I accidentally listened to "Christian" radio this morning, which gave me an idea

[jmowreader]

Lots of fog on I-95 this morning. Bad driving, good long-distance radio reception.

As I searched the dial to see who I could hear, I came across one of the frightening "Focus On The Family" radio stations. They were discussing a proposed Colorado law that would require every gambling establishment in the state, including lotteries but excluding bingo operators (since many bingo operators are churches, probably), to run a background check on every winner for child support violations and to garnish child support payments from gambling winnings.

Okay, fine. I can see that because (1) The Children Must Be Provided For and (2) there's no problem with violating the Takings Clause of the Fourth Amendment if you're Taking from a Reprehensible Business like a Gambling Casino. You know, "thou shalt not gamble, except at our bingo hall." But why stop there? It seems to me that when these deadbeat dads decide to hook up with Proper Women, said Proper Women make them go to church and, of course, to tithe. Now...could it not be said that every dollar spent on a tithe is a dollar that could have been used to make a child support payment? Why, of COURSE it is! And certainly we can't forget the moneychangers--I know people, as I'm certain you do, who would allow their credit card bills and even taxes to go unpaid but would NEVER neglect to drop their ten percent into the plate on Sunday morning.

So let us now look at a child support enforcement bill which I think is perfectly fair to all. Under this bill, every church in a state must install a computer system so they can run a background check on every parishioner prior to taking their contribution. If said parishioner owes any child support, is late on his or her credit card bills, has any back taxes or owes ANY other delinquent money to anyone else, the church must immediately pay these bills from the parishioner's contribution.

Fair is fair. If they want to act as they have been and maintain their tax-free status, they should help their communities in other ways. This is one of them.

[ColbertWatcher]

1. I like the way you think. n/t

[lapfog_1]

2. Every winner

there are very few "winners". If you win playing one of the casino's games, it is more likely that you are simply making up (partway) for the previous losing streak. And most gamblers cannot quit when they are ahead.

Not to mention the huge headache this would be to have to do some sort of ID check on everyone that cashes out.

Last, it only leads to a subculture "winner tax"... this is already prevalent in the poker world... you win a few thousand dollars in a tournament... you aren't a serious player that records every win and every loss for the IRS tax forms (you can deduct losses from winnings)... you go up to collect your tournament win and there will be this guy who, for $100 or so, lets you use HIS ID and SSN for the IRS records... he makes so little money that he won't pay taxes on your winnings anyway, OR he just isn't worth going after to the IRS because there isn't anything to take from him, so you make the deal and avoid the income showing up under your name. Happens all the time. Now will happen for people that "cash out" of any casino game (how would they determine that the chips you are cashing out are "winnings" anyway?)

[jmowreader]

4. They don't give a damn about The Children. It's something else.

I think they're trying to put all the casinos out of business--whether it's because the casinos are Teh Eeeevil, the casinos are diverting money that could be spent on tithes or they're taking business away from church-operated bingo I haven't decided yet, but no Christian leader likes casinos (or bars, for that matter) and will do anything to close them.

They'll do anything. We have a law in the state I live in that makes it illegal to open an establishment that sells alcohol within 500 feet of a church, school or home. I have been told (this may be apocryphal but after hearing it, I can believe it) that it is illegal to place a church, school or home within 500 feet of an establishment that sells alcohol, because after the first law was passed a lot of people ran around opening storefront churches within 500 feet of bars, then petitioning the Alcohol Beverage Control Board to close the bar because the bar was within 500 feet of their church.

Here are the problems with this proposed law, and right now I'm leaving out the part about the Takings Clause--you know the casinos won't be reimbursed by the state for their role as child support collection agents. First, it's going to be expensive to comply with this law. You'll need a computer that can connect to the state's system for each cashier. You'll probably need a satellite shot to the state. You'll need to double the number of cashiers you have, unless you want lines of people trying to cash out snaking through the door. And second, who's going to come into a casino if there's a chance any money they might win could be taken away by the state? It's the old slippery slope argument going on here: Once Child Support starts getting money from gambling winnings, the income tax board will, and then the alimony people, the property tax...of course, the Bingo people will immediately cash in on this bonanza of takings by advertising you'll never have your winnings taken away if you play with them! And, as you'd expect, every time a casino closes there will be hundreds of Bible Thumpers in front of it thanking the Lord for finally shutting it down.

I really don't think the bill will pass because even My Cousin Vinny could get it overturned on Fourth Amendment grounds, but there's always the faint possibility it will.

[melm00se]

3. if you win

any significant amount of money gambling you have to provide a valid SS # for a W-2G.

According to the IRS the rules are:

...winnings of $1,200 or more from slot machines and bingo are taxable. As for on-the-spot withholdings, there shouldn't be any on jackpots of less than $5,000, unless you fail to provide a valid social security number, in which case they can withhold 29% of the booty won. If the spoils are more than $5,000, the casino is required to withhold 25% of the proceeds for Federal Income Tax.

...winnings on all table game progressive side bets with payouts of 300 to 1 or more are fair game for the IRS. Although W-2Gs are not required for typical wagers won from table games such as blackjack, craps, baccarat, roulette, etc., even if you got a decent chunk of change on the layout -- but regardless of the amount, casinos are still subject to the "Money Laundering Rules", and must report to the IRS, using a Cash Transaction Report (CTR), aggregate cash transactions of $10,000 or more in any one day.

...winnings of $1,500 or more from keno, less the cost of the tickets bought on the winning game.

...winnings of $600 or more from horse racing, dog racing, or jai alai, if the winnings are at least 300 times the wager.

...winnings of $600 or more from poker tournaments

...and winnings of $600 or more from state lotteries.

Do i really need to point out the difference between a casino payout and church donations?

Casinos, in many cases, already act as agents for the federal government in withholding and disbursing tax revenues per above.