Can Web Gaming Offset Health Reform Costs?
Among the more than 560 amendments submitted by Senate Finance Committee members late last week is a proposal by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to dedicate Internet gambling tax revenue -- generated through implementation of a pending House bill -- to increase low-income subsidies included in Finance Chairman Max Baucus' healthcare reform measure. Wyden also offered an amendment that requires employers to offer at least two choices of health insurance or provide vouchers their employees could use in the insurance marketplace proposed by President Obama.
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank's Web gambling bill would overturn a 2006 federal gambling ban and create a framework to permit licensed operators to accept wagers from individuals in the United States. A companion to Frank's legislation introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., would raise revenue for the Treasury Department primarily through ensuring that applicable individual taxes, corporate taxes and license fees on regulated Internet gambling activities are collected.
"We applaud Senator Wyden's proposal to collect and put to good use tens of billions in Internet gambling revenue that would otherwise be lost in the underground marketplace," said Michael Waxman, a spokesman with the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, which backs Frank and McDermott's legislation. The group also pointed to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis that showed collecting taxes on regulated Web gambling would let the U.S. capture up to $62.7 billion over the next decade.
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