Reeves leaves door open to gambling tax rise in autumn budget

Independent

4 days ago

Rachel Reeves left the door open to a rise in gambling taxes after Gordon Brown urged her to raise levies to cover the cost of lifting the two-child benefit cap.
The Chancellor said she was 'deeply concerned' about child poverty as she faced questions about the former prime minister's proposal to increase duties for online casinos and slot machines to fund welfare reform.
Asked whether she was considering Mr Brown's suggestion, Ms Reeves said she had spoken to him last week and would set out Government policy in the autumn budget.
'So I talk to Gordon regularly, and saw him last week when I was in Scotland,' she said.
'Like Gordon, I am deeply concerned around the levels of child poverty in Britain. No child should grow up hungry or parents not be able to afford the basics for their family.
'We're a Labour Government. Of course, we care about child poverty. That's why one of the first things we did as a government was to set up a child poverty task force that will be reporting in the autumn and (will) respond to it then.'
She added: 'On gambling taxes, we've already launched a review into gambling taxes. We're taking evidence on that at the moment, and again, we'll set out our policies in the normal way, in our budget later this year.'
Reforms to gambling levies could generate the £3.2 billion needed to scrap the two-child limit and benefit cap, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said.
The think tank's latest research said axing the policies could lift half a million children out of poverty and 'reverse years of rising hardship for low-income families'.
Giving his backing to the report, Mr Brown, a photo of whom Ms Reeves reportedly kept in her bedroom as a student, said it would be the 'first crucial step in the war we must wage against child poverty'.
The Government is expected to publish a child poverty strategy in the autumn, and campaign groups have said it must contain a commitment to abandon the two-child limit.
Economists have warned tax rises in the autumn are likely needed to plug a hole in the public finances left by poor economic figures and U-turns on welfare, prompting speculation about which areas Ms Reeves might target.
The IPPR suggested increasing taxes on online casinos from 21% to 50% and raising those on slots and gaming machines, from 20% to 50%.
Mr Brown added: 'Thanks to IPPR's report, we now know that taxing gambling more fairly would fully fund the first crucial step in the war we must wage against child poverty – ending the two-child limit and lifting the benefit cap.'
Labour Mayor for the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram heaped further pressure on the Chancellor later on Thursday, saying that lifting 500,000 children out of poverty should be 'a national mission'.
'Gordon is spot on,' he said. 'The Government has a real opportunity to act now and transform young lives across the country.'
But a spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council rejected the 'economically reckless, factually misleading' proposals which 'risk driving huge numbers to the growing, unsafe, unregulated gambling black market, which doesn't protect consumers and contributes zero tax'.
They added: 'Further tax rises, fresh off the back of Government reforms which cost the sector over a billion in lost revenue, would do more harm than good, for punters, jobs, growth and public finances.'