The UK government has been urged to raise tax within the gambling industry, with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) saying the money could help tackle child poverty.
The think tank says that it could raise over £3 billion a year with a hike in taxes, they propose Online Gaming duty to rise from 21% to 50%, Machine Gaming duty from 20% to 50% and General Betting duty to increase from 15% to 25%.
The IPPR are pushing for the taxes as the increase would raise billions by 2027. They say the money could be used to scrap the two child benefit limit and cap which would help families in need.
The gambling industry is an extremely profitable industry, pays little tax and is even exempt from VAT, says the group. It says this change would make the system fairer and reflect the harm gambling issues cause. They say that 60% of the industry profits come from just 5% of users who they class as vulnerable.
The opposing party of this proposal is the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC). They represent the industry and say that the higher taxes would have an impact on people’s jobs, drive people to the black market which is untaxed as well as unregulated and most importantly hurt ordinary punters. It stresses that members contribute £6.8 billion to the economy and £4 billion in taxes alongside employing over 100,000 people.
The IPPR say the point about pushing people to the black market is exaggerated and so linking higher taxes to illegal gambling is a weak debate.
The Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the plan would lift half a million children out of poverty if included in the Autumn budget.
The debate comes as another economic think tank warned that the UK government will need to raise taxes this autumn to meet its financial targets and say that the Gambling Industry is a good place to help this.