Bingo: Bingo Double Taxation Debate Goes On
The debate about the double taxation law placed on the bingo industry is still in full swing with Mark Formosa, who is a wannabe MP for the Conservatives getting in on the act and airing his views in favour of getting rid of the unfair taxation law that is grinding the bingo industry down!
This is still a hot subject that rifles many a feather as it affects millions of bingo players across the UK, plus all the people that work within the industry to. This year's budget may be over with no leeway coming the bingo industries way, but there are still many players and people out there that are behind the scarping of this truly unfair law and they are not about to lay down and forget all about it, so the fight to save our much loved bingo halls continues.
Mecca Bingo "Save our Bingo" petition that was set up on the 10 Downing Street web site attracted more than 2,000 signatures, but as yet their does not seem to be any change forth coming from the government on this very important issue. Gerry Sutcliffe who is the sports minister, recently hinted in a speech he made to the bingo association that an announcement was due to be made shortly on the bingo industries plight, although this is now thought to be about relaxing the laws slightly on the £500 jackpot gaming machines and not on the double taxation issue.
Mr Formosa recently visited a Mecca Bingo club in Tauton, where he also called out the numbers during the Sunday bingo session. It has been reported that he said, "Bingo clubs, unlike other forms of gambling pay 15% gaming duty as well as 17.5% VAT", he also went on to slam the way this hugely popular pastime is taxed. Unnervingly he also claimed that over half the country's bingo halls would have closed down within 20 years and shockingly he predicted that a further 100 bingo halls would close down within this year alone.
Every time one of our countries bingo halls closes down, the treasury are set to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost revenue, not to mention how this affects the bingo players, surrounding communities and the people that work in them, yet still nothing really seems to be done to help stop any more bingo halls from closing down.
Written by Hollie
www.unluckyforsome.co.uk
