Several prominent charitable and fraternal organizations are calling on top Virginian leaders to kill a $13 million tax scheme targeting electronic gambling in bingo halls needed to keep them in business.
At issue is legislation going to conference that would end the exemption for groups including police and veterans and philanthropies such as the Moose and Elks associations.
Those groups use the money raised from legalized games to cover the costs of operations and donations.
“At a time when charitable giving is needed the most, these draconian bills raise taxes and increase bureaucracy on our volunteer organizations,” said a letter to top Virginia lawmakers involved in conferencing House and Senate legislation for a final vote.
The groups that signed the letter provided to Secrets were the Fraternal Order of Police, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Knights of Columbus, Moose Association, and Elks Association.
“Our organizations are among the largest, most charitable volunteer groups in Virginia and the United States. We give a great deal of our personal time as volunteers and many of our local posts and lodges rely on Virginia’s state-approved charitable gaming framework to help raise funds to support our membership and deliver charitable programming in our local communities in Virginia. These short-sighted bills could end, or severely curtail, much of that good work,” they wrote.
The legislation would end the tax exemption for police, veteran, and philanthropic groups and impose new licensing rules.
Those groups said they would be forced to pay a total of $13 million and face costly regulatory scrutiny of their games, notably electronic pull tabs in bingo halls.
“The General Assembly should not be punishing those that have played by the rules for decades,” said Marty Williams, the legislative director and former state president of the Virginia Fraternal Order of Police. “Virginia’s legal and regulated charitable gaming system works. State leaders have promised less bureaucracy and less taxes, not more. A potential $13.3 million tax on fraternal organizations would severely cut our ability to fund local charitable efforts. Disguising this as an ‘audit fee’ makes it even worse,” he added.
Butch Schupska, the state commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Virginia, said, “For decades, legal and state-authorized charitable gaming has benefited Virginia’s veterans, police, volunteer fire departments and community charities in countless ways. Additional fees and taxes will harm our ability to fulfill our mission to give back.”
It is unclear if Gov. Glenn Youngkin would sign the legislation. He has called for tax cuts.
