Taxes on gambling send the right message?

[leea-1334]

I definitely agree. I may not call it a false morality, though. In the first place, the state is not saying gambling is now better because it gives more revenue. It is simply implementing a mechanism which will hopefully curb the proliferation of gambling. It simply tries to discourage gambling.

However, I will also question its effectivity. In the end, increasing gambling taxes would only widen the gap between the privileged and the poor. Gambling does not transform into a good thing. It would only become a luxury which only the rich can afford. Is there something wrong with it? I guess it does not sound right to say, "only you can do this bad thing because you've got the money."

Not morality,,, this has been discussed many times before and it has very little to do with morals or ethics (because that means either you ban it  or not, and what kinds of rules you allow for them).

This is simply to recognize that gambling is an industry that brings in revenue,,, and that you must also tax it more because of the harm it does upon society. We all love gambling here but the sad part is that a lot of people get addicted to it.

[Fesatmas]

I was thinking that many countries are reluctant to legalise certain activities such as gambling, prostitution, smoking, ... and, apart from countries that have strong social and religious restrictions (I refer to those as the death-by-boredom countries) others simply consider than the state should not profit or allow activities that are considered diminishing for the workers or that may harm their health and personal relations (it must be difficult to be an addict to gambling or a prostitute and have a normal life).

However, other countries simply set high taxes to these activities, which I think is a false morality, as if by paying these activities can be less questionable. (Note: I personally do not question regulated gambling).

because every country has a constitutional law method based on state law. and based on certain ethnic laws that apply rules that gambling, prostitution, and other things that are considered criminal are the most important threats in enforcing institutional law.
while in other parts of the country as we know gambling in Japan has become the ancestral tradition of their ancestors. and it is mandated in the tradition which is very commonly held.

[Cling18]

No matter how the government tax vices and regulate gambling, it won't stop the people from doing things that they like. People will always find ways to pursue the things that will satisfy them. Even in most religious countries that ban alcohol, cigarette, and gambling, the black market still continuously producing the demand of the users as well as the gamblers. Tax won't hinder or stop people from doing things that they like.

[uneng]

I think high taxation doesn't send the right message, because it doesn't work as it was supposed when theoreticians first imagined it. High taxation over gambling just creates an informal market of illegal casinos that will offer better playing conditions for average citizens, while the legalized ones will have only wealthy citizens as customers.
For this reason a fair taxation is enough and brings everyone together in a legalized environment where no one will be putting themselves in risk when gambling. Theoreticians who create such stupid rules should keep in mind they just can't forbid people from playing.

[Silberman]

I was thinking that many countries are reluctant to legalise certain activities such as gambling, prostitution, smoking, ... and, apart from countries that have strong social and religious restrictions (I refer to those as the death-by-boredom countries) others simply consider than the state should not profit or allow activities that are considered diminishing for the workers or that may harm their health and personal relations (it must be difficult to be an addict to gambling or a prostitute and have a normal life).

However, other countries simply set high taxes to these activities, which I think is a false morality, as if by paying these activities can be less questionable. (Note: I personally do not question regulated gambling).

Like most of the time with the governments that is the impression they want to give, that they are sending the right message by taxing so harshly things like gambling, tobacco and alcohol, but they do it simply because they can get away with it, the taxes they charge to those industries will sink many other industries but since those companies produce enormous profits they can do it and get away with it, and even if governments actually wanted to restrict access to those activities and even if they were willing to invest the money necessary to do so we know what happened at the US when they tried to ban alcohol and governments do not want to repeat that same mistake again.

[ralle14]

With a high gambling tax it's going to make people think twice about their gambling activities but at the same time I have to agree with some of the posts mentioned above, it seems like there's no good solution in stopping gambling when there's so many ways to do it. At the end of it all might as well gain something out of it by putting a high tax, it might not be an effective solution to stop gambling but when you look at the overall picture it's better to have casinos around knowing they could somehow boost the economy.

[adzino]

There are many reasons why they make all these illegal with some given circumstances, you don't want your family member to be among the people who got into these activities. Tobacco, Prostitution, and Gambling are done underground if they are not going to make it legal, there will be no way for the government to make money out of it if it's going to be still illegal.

So in order for the operators to conduct business legally,  the government has to make money. Fair trade.

You forgot the main point. There are some countries or states where gambling is illegal because gambling does somewhat affect the crime rate. It is said that gambling causes some people to get involved with criminals. Again, there are people that would do anything to fulfil their gambling addiction. Most of the government knows that if they make gambling illegal, people will move underground and it will make things far more worse than it is now. So why not just regulate it and put high tax. It's a total win win situation.

[imstillthebest]

prostitution should be prohibited and then they can tax high with smoking because this is what countries are doing now but for gambling they should allow this and only ban those that are illegal.
 gambling is not bad in the health compare to the two but it has  benefits if done right  . taxes in gambling can help tho on improving the country but it should be done accordingly

[dothebeats]

I think that taxes are a way for people to "pay" their way to accessing "illegal" content for most of the time, though I know some other people will disagree with this thought. I won't go so far as saying gambling is immoral, it's just that some other religions are against it, and we have our differences when it comes to culture and whatnot. Taxing this industry is, IMO, a neutral thing since the money can be used to fund other government projects that can help better the lives of the society.

[KTChampions]

With a high gambling tax it's going to make people think twice about their gambling activities but at the same time I have to agree with some of the posts mentioned above, it seems like there's no good solution in stopping gambling when there's so many ways to do it. At the end of it all might as well gain something out of it by putting a high tax, it might not be an effective solution to stop gambling but when you look at the overall picture it's better to have casinos around knowing they could somehow boost the economy.

I don’t understand at all this idea “to stifle gambling with high taxes or other measures” - why do this? If a person is having fun and does not violate anyone's rights, then this is his own business and the state should not interfere. If we are talking about addiction and abuse, then this is a completely different question.

[MusaMohamed]

I think that taxes are a way for people to "pay" their way to accessing "illegal" content for most of the time, though I know some other people will disagree with this thought. I won't go so far as saying gambling is immoral, it's just that some other religions are against it, and we have our differences when it comes to culture and whatnot. Taxing this industry is, IMO, a neutral thing since the money can be used to fund other government projects that can help better the lives of the society.

Tax is something legal and if more regulation on tax can bring Bitcoin to mainstream then legal tender nation-wide or globally, I support it.

In short term, it can cause chaotic and fearful period in the market. Fortunately, in long term, when things are settled down and people are familiar with tax on their crypto investment, trading, gambling, the crypto adoption will be bigger.

Tax is one of contributions from cryptocurrency market and crypto gambling industry to society. I see it as a good one.

[mindrust]

I was thinking that many countries are reluctant to legalise certain activities such as gambling, prostitution, smoking, ... and, apart from countries that have strong social and religious restrictions (I refer to those as the death-by-boredom countries) others simply consider than the state should not profit or allow activities that are considered diminishing for the workers or that may harm their health and personal relations (it must be difficult to be an addict to gambling or a prostitute and have a normal life).

However, other countries simply set high taxes to these activities, which I think is a false morality, as if by paying these activities can be less questionable. (Note: I personally do not question regulated gambling).

When you allow such things (prostitution, smoking, gambling) , people just overdo it (because they get addicted) and the place becomes a shit hole at the end of the day.

Maybe like Las Vegas where it is allowed to gamble, people should build other places like Las Vegas where it is allowed to smoke or bang them bitchez. That would work.

[RokokGudangGaram]

I was thinking that many countries are reluctant to legalise certain activities such as gambling, prostitution, smoking, ... and, apart from countries that have strong social and religious restrictions (I refer to those as the death-by-boredom countries) others simply consider than the state should not profit or allow activities that are considered diminishing for the workers or that may harm their health and personal relations (it must be difficult to be an addict to gambling or a prostitute and have a normal life).

However, other countries simply set high taxes to these activities, which I think is a false morality, as if by paying these activities can be less questionable. (Note: I personally do not question regulated gambling).

When you allow such things (prostitution, smoking, gambling) , people just overdo it (because they get addicted) and the place becomes a shit hole at the end of the day.

Maybe like Las Vegas where it is allowed to gamble, people should build other places like Las Vegas where it is allowed to smoke or bang them bitchez. That would work.

I agree, it is as if people have this innate nature of abusing things that they were given privilege to have and to do. In my opinion, it is possible that when other countries that set high taxes for activities like gambling, smoking and prostitution, they are doing it to discourage people from pursuing it through the use of financial constraint.

[ChiBitCTy]

This is an interesting topic/point you're making here.  I live in the United States which has been rapidly becoming more open to legalized gambling.  My state just this past year legalized gambling. If something is legalized, then why should it be double or triple taxed just because some people deem it to be bad or harmful or whatever.  It really is stupid when you think about it.

[ralle14]

I don’t understand at all this idea “to stifle gambling with high taxes or other measures” - why do this? If a person is having fun and does not violate anyone's rights, then this is his own business and the state should not interfere. If we are talking about addiction and abuse, then this is a completely different question.

A lot of money is involved in gambling, it's inevitable for them to not interfere knowing it could be a good financial source to the government.

You're not wrong though it's a good source of entertainment but like what mindrust said if nothing is done then it could easily get out of hand and it'll start to affect others so taxes is like the middle ground.

[madnessteat]

I was thinking that many countries are reluctant to legalise certain activities such as gambling, prostitution, smoking, ... and, apart from countries that have strong social and religious restrictions (I refer to those as the death-by-boredom countries) others simply consider than the state should not profit or allow activities that are considered diminishing for the workers or that may harm their health and personal relations (it must be difficult to be an addict to gambling or a prostitute and have a normal life).

However, other countries simply set high taxes to these activities, which I think is a false morality, as if by paying these activities can be less questionable. (Note: I personally do not question regulated gambling).

I don't think the government really cares about the health of its citizens. This multi-billion dollar shadow market in drugs, weapons, prostitution, etc. is under the influence of various criminal gangs that work closely with the authorities. So it makes no sense for them to legalize this market.

[KTChampions]

I don’t understand at all this idea “to stifle gambling with high taxes or other measures” - why do this? If a person is having fun and does not violate anyone's rights, then this is his own business and the state should not interfere. If we are talking about addiction and abuse, then this is a completely different question.

A lot of money is involved in gambling, it's inevitable for them to not interfere knowing it could be a good financial source to the government.

You're not wrong though it's a good source of entertainment but like what mindrust said if nothing is done then it could easily get out of hand and it'll start to affect others so taxes is like the middle ground.

I think that taxes should not be a regulator of people's activities - they are only needed for the state to have the means to function. Roughly speaking, a tax is a fee for using the infrastructure. But when the state begins to decide for the people what is bad and what is good and to introduce taxes on these grounds, then this raises serious questions about the adequacy of such actions.

[Welsh]

Hard to say, there's countries out there that don't tax money made from gambling, but they have a significant regulated approach by assuring that the gambling companies are licensed, and conform to certain rules. So, its entirely possible to not tax winnings from gambling, while promoting a healthy view point on gambling by making sure that gambling companies basically stick to the rules.

UK for example, don't tax you on your winnings from gambling. Gambling is considered a recreational activity. However, they are monitored by the gambling commission which assures they are following the rules, and are only providing a service to those that they are licensed for. If a US resident wanted to gamble on a UK based site, and the UK based site had the correct license to allow that, the US resident would still have to provide their earnings to the tax man over in the USA, assuming that their winnings are taxed over there or if its illegal in their state, then they can't legally gamble through the UK site, even if the UK site allows USA residents. Usually though, this is documented within their terms of service, which includes what states they allow.

[Fortify]

I was thinking that many countries are reluctant to legalise certain activities such as gambling, prostitution, smoking, ... and, apart from countries that have strong social and religious restrictions (I refer to those as the death-by-boredom countries) others simply consider than the state should not profit or allow activities that are considered diminishing for the workers or that may harm their health and personal relations (it must be difficult to be an addict to gambling or a prostitute and have a normal life).

However, other countries simply set high taxes to these activities, which I think is a false morality, as if by paying these activities can be less questionable. (Note: I personally do not question regulated gambling).

Personally I think that religion is a relic of history that should be consigned to the rubbish bin - it should not be influencing rational and logical decisions today. It had a place for comforting people and building some basic laws for society, however we have now advanced far beyond the need for it. Man can judge man, based on changing moral codes and scientific knowledge (smoking used to be "cool" before we really knew the long term damage it could do). Gambling should be treated like any other entertainment business and taxed accordingly. The one thing that I think governments are too lenient on is helping problem gamblers - if someone identifies that they have uncontrollable urges there should be a country, if not worldwide, system that they can click a button to ban themselves for a certain period of time - 3 months, 6 months, 5 years, whatever. The person is taking responsibility and self excluding, the tools to protect them should be there.

[molsewid]

With a high gambling tax it's going to make people think twice about their gambling activities but at the same time I have to agree with some of the posts mentioned above, it seems like there's no good solution in stopping gambling when there's so many ways to do it. At the end of it all might as well gain something out of it by putting a high tax, it might not be an effective solution to stop gambling but when you look at the overall picture it's better to have casinos around knowing they could somehow boost the economy.

For me this have two faces like negative and positive effect. If we will going to look on the negative side of this is that it might sound like implementing a high taxes on the gambling businesses or even in alcohol and cigarettes may sound rude at first but after all it is only implemented for the seek of people, I mean those people that are engaged in such doings are those very affected but it could boost the economy. While on the other hand, even implementation of high taxes didn't stop those people who are really into gambling or smoking and that is proven.