Two Dutch MPs Want Gambling Tax Increased by 1%
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:Two Dutch Members of Parliament have proposed an amendment to raise the gambling tax for operators by a whole percentage point to 30.5%.
The amendment which was introduced by Silvio Erkens, MP for the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, and Chris Stoffer, MP for the Reformed Political Party, aims to increase the gambling tax from 29.5% to 30.5%.
The MPs initiated this move as a way to mitigate the proposed 16.3% increase in excise duty on alcohol. According to them, the intended increase in excise duty on alcohol would lead to more people purchasing alcohol in neighboring countries and this would negatively impact the businesses of the local middle class in border areas. They also claim that the expected revenue set to be generated from the excise duty is likely going to be below the expected benchmark.
However, halving the excise tax increase could potentially cost the state approximately €74 million in revenue. To make up for this potential loss, Erkens and Stoffer proposed that the government raise gambling tax as well as the excise duty on tobacco. They estimated that the increase in gambling tax would earn the state an additional €26 million, while the proposed increase in tobacco taxes could yield €48 million.
Higher Tax for Online Gambling
In the amendment, the MPs also noted that they would prefer to apply the increase to online gambling only since the popularity of online gambling in the state has resulted in a substantial rise in the revenue of online gambling companies.
However, the MPs will not be able to achieve this since the gambling tax in the Gambling Tax Act currently applies to all forms of gambling. If the amendment gets accepted, it would apply to every gambling provider in the Netherlands.
In the last part of the proposal, the MPs hope that the government can implement the amendment by 2025.
By means of this amendment, the petitioners also request the government to make this differentiation possible as soon as possible, preferably by 2025. Once that is the case, the additional revenue from the increase in the gambling tax as a result of this amendment can be found by taxing online gambling companies more heavily, to the extent that the increase can be reversed for all other taxpayers.
At the beginning of this month, Dutch gambling regulator Kanspelautoriteit (KSA) published a report showing a decline in the growth rate of the Netherlands gambling market. Commenting on the development, René Jansen, Chairman of KSA stated that the market is progressing as anticipated.
The Netherlands online gambling market went live in 2021 following the enactment of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA).
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