NSW: Club delegates to vote tomorrow on Iemma's pokie tax offer

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2006
NSW: Club delegates to vote tomorrow on Iemma's pokie tax offer

By Peter Jean, State Political Reporter

SYDNEY, Feb 14 AAP - Representatives of NSW registered clubs will meet tomorrow to
vote on a state government proposal aimed at ending a feud over poker machine tax.

In an effort to neutralise the issue before the state election next March, the government
has offered to introduce a $1 million annual poker machine tax-free threshold.

Clubs which earn more than $20 million a year from poker machines would pay only 36
per cent poker machine tax from 2010, instead of 40 per cent.

About 1,000 club delegates will meet in Sydney tomorrow to vote on the offer.

The NSW opposition already has promised to freeze poker machine tax rates at 2005 levels
if it wins the next election.

ClubsNSW chief executive David Costello today accused the state government of attempting
to divide the clubs movement by offering to exempt smaller clubs from poker machine taxes.

He said the government was doing this "by offering a rate of tax to the smaller clubs
that certainly provides some certainty about their own future when other clubs have no
certainty about that".

Mr Costello said 232 clubs had closed over the past eight years and another 200 could
be at risk of closing because of poker machine tax.

Premier Morris Iemma today urged clubs to accept the government's offer.

"The offer that has been given to them is balanced, affordable and generous," he told reporters.

Mr Iemma refused to say if the government would legislate for the tax changes regardless
of whether the clubs accepted them or not.

AAP pj/nf/lma/bwl

KEYWORD: CLUBS

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