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Bingo tax revenue far exceeds projections, lawmakers to consider options Saturday, Jun 21, 2008 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Revenue from a new state tax on charitable bingo games has exceeded projections by $500,000, fiscal officers told legislators Friday. A legislative committee is expected to meet later this summer to review the rules of the games, including the tax, lawmakers said. Bingo and raffles were viewed as constitutionally banned lotteries - some church and other groups still ran the games - until voters in 2006 approved a constitutional amendment authorizing recognized organizations to conduct the games for charitable purposes. Last year, the state Department of Finance and Administration set a $600,000 annual budget for a new five-person division to monitor bingo operations statewide. The state imposed a 1-cent per bingo game card tax to cover the cost. Operators have complained the tax was excessive and cut into proceeds that should be going to charity. Some say bingo games can be monitored locally and that a new state division to do so is unnecessary. DF&A told members of the Legislative Council on Friday the tax has generated about $1.4 million through the first 11 months of the fiscal year, which ends June 30. Some of the proceeds were from a tax on equipment, officials said. "The problem is not so much that the state is regulating this," Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, said. "The problem is that the money, whether it was legal or not, was being used and turned back into things that help our state." Rep. Tracy Pennartz, D-Fort Smith, said bingo operators in western Arkansas are especially hurting because state law limits groups to just two bingo games twice a week, while casinos across the border in Oklahoma are open seven days a week. "We have some particular circumstances that are different than maybe somebody in Sheridan," Pennartz said. "It has significantly affected those organizations (that) give Boys State and Girls State local scholarships, and sometimes a $2,000 scholarship makes a difference in whether somebody is going to attend the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith or not at all." Sen. Terry Smith, D-Hot Springs, said the Legislature created and approved the rules and regulations for operating bingo games and could change them in the 2009 regular session. "We're the ones that passed the bingo bill," he said. "If we want them to play seven days a week we can do that in '09. If we want to adjust the tax down, we can do both." Rep. Johnny Hoyt, D-Morrilton, said after the meeting that the House Revenue and Taxation Committee likely would hold a hearing on the bingo rules later this summer and possibly develop legislation for the 2009 session. "We might want to repeal it, but we want to study it first," Hoyt said, adding that reducing the tax and allowing groups to play more games per week also would be considered. |
