The Citizens of Tacoma Washington have been protest for years that not for profit charities should be tax exempt from the gambling tax, and it now appears that on January 9th they may get what they have been asking for.
Last week the Tacoma City Council listened to the first reading of a bill that will make these charity organizations exempt from the gambling tax.
In Washington many non profit organizations use casino games to help raise money an assortment of causes.
Last year these non profit groups had to pay $78,000 dollars in taxes on money raised on gambling events, this is money on top of the licensing fees already paid to the gambling commission.
Not only do many of Tacoma%u2019s citizens feel the money would be better spent by the charities, several members of the Tacoma City Counsel feel the same way, which is why they agreed to write up the bill, and hope to pass it on January 9th 2007 at their next meeting.
Some of the charities that will benefit this new bill will be groups like the ELKS, Veterans of Foreign Wars and
Amvets, who use the money they raise to help veterans who have been wounded in the service of our country, and sometimes fall thru the cracks of the Veterans Administration.
