Irish betting levy increase omitted from budget as decision pushed back to 2024
Proposed tax rise from 2% to 3% to support Irish sports organisations would be the second increase in four years
Ireland’s Minister of Finance Michael McGrath has delayed the decision to increase the betting levy until “next year”.
In delivering the budget yesterday, 10 October, McGrath did not provide concrete details on the proposal, instead confirming the government will explore potential tax rises next year.
The money raised from the proposed increase in the betting levy from 2% to 3% would see funds put aside for sports, most notably the development of football grounds across the country.
The motion to raise the tax was tabled by the Irish Labour Party TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin in July, with Minister for Sport Catherine Martin backing the motion. At the time, Martin confirmed that the final decision would lie with McGrath.
However, McGrath has delayed his decision on whether or not to increase taxation until next year, explaining in the Dáil Éireann on Tuesday that further examinations of how taxes could support sports organisations will take place first.
McGrath said: “Our taxation system currently provides a number of reliefs to sporting organisations and to charities. However, I believe there is potential to do more.
“To assist our national governing bodies with their capital programmes, I intend to examine how the tax system can be utilised to further support these organisations with the upgrade of their facilities or the development of new ones.
“This will involve examining the tax treatment of long-term strategic development funds established by approved sporting bodies to promote capital investment in our sports facilities. I will conclude this work next year,” he added.
Ireland previously raised the turnover tax rate from 1% to 2% in January 2019, with fears a further increase could severely damper the retail side of the industry.
Speaking to the Racing Post, Irish Bookmakers Association chair Sharon Byrne said the possibility of a further levy increase had made the industry “very anxious”.
She said: “The paper we produced demonstrated exactly just how detrimental the 100% increase was to the viability of betting shops in 2019. Hopefully the government will see that we cannot take another increase in betting tax.
“If the tax goes up again, they will be in deeper trouble,” she added.