Spanish Community Makes Progress on Bingo Tax Reform
Author:
Jacob McKenzie
In the Spanish community of Extremadura, located in the west, the local government has picked up on the cues from the nationwide organization for bingo by proposing an amendment to bingo taxation. This process started with the Spanish Confederation of Bingo Business Organizations suggesting that local community propose their own amendments to reform how bingo is taxed moving forward. Extremadura is the first to respond with their own proposal.
Spain’s autonomous communities have been giving a short time frame to propose amendments to the way bingo games are taxed across the country. Scott Graham/Unsplash
Spain might soon have a lower bingo tax rate
After the announcement from the Spanish Confederation of Bingo Business Organizations several months ago, autonomous Spanish communities had some time to propose changes to how bingo will be taxed in their area. The deadline for these proposals is July 19, which is why the community of Extremadura submitted its amendments last week.
Essentially, the confederation for bingo businesses across Spain made it known that autonomous communities could rally to lower the standard tax rate of bingo in their regions. Extremadura will likely be the first of several areas to join in this push.
As of now, the standard tax rate for almost all forms of bingo in Spain is 18 percent. There is a different tax rate for electronic bingo games of 20 percent total. Though it may seem from the outside that the organization is looking to lower all tax on the games in general, there are more pressing reasons for these current efforts.
For one, as of now, autonomous communities in Spain have not had consistency when it comes to bingo taxation. Making a concerted push for amending these rates across autonomous communities would also serve to help put them in better alignment with one another, creating consistency across the nation.
Spain is made up of 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities. Each community has the power to make its own rules to a great extent, similar in the ways state governments operate in the United States.
The other major reason for making this push now is because many bingo operators were negatively impacted by Covid-19, from full lock-downs, which shuttered businesses, to entering back with reduced capacity and, therefore, reduced revenue. The bingo confederation hopes that lessening the pressure on bingo businesses with a reduced tax will help them to come back stronger and flourish again.
All proposals from autonomous communities in Spain will be funneled towards the possible amendment of a general tax bill that is currently in the works. The bill also addresses other aspects of tax regulation — including punitive measures for those that do not abide by the bill — in the country.
Once approved, the gaming aspects of the tax bill will come into effect starting on the first of the month of whichever month follows the passing of the bill into law.
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