| The tax bill has passed and electronic pulltab games will be decimated in exchange for a nominal tax reduction, audit changes and a cap on manufacturer revenue shares. We expect the revenue losses to be 100-150 million dollars. The Tribes pushed for a full rollback of the games and the DFL party supported them in full. Not one DFL legislator broke party ranks to support their local charities.
It was a straight party line vote in the Senate, 34 to 33, that defeated our efforts to remove the language from the bill. Our team, along with Protect Our Charities and the MN American Legion worked tirelessly to educate legislators. We had support from many on both sides of the aisle, but we heard repeatedly that this was a directive from leadership and the Governor. They did what they were told to do. You can see the full bill here, start at Article 13 (Line 306.22). Legislators knew that this issue would be contentious. They added the E-pulltab language late Friday night and passed it in committee early Saturday morning. There were no hearings, no opportunity for public testimony and no fiscal note to determine what the financial impact would be to the state or our revenue. This administration talks a lot about transparency and inclusiveness but neither was present in this process. Lawmakers should be ashamed of the stain that has been left on this bill and how they hid it behind closed doors and slammed it into law at the 11th hour. They walked the plank for the Governor to please the Tribes and they will have to face the public and answer for their vote. The election in 2024 will be critical. Here are the changes that we will see effective July 1, 2023: E-pulltab revenue is exempted from the $750,000 audit threshold. An audit will be required only if your gross receipts minus e-pulltab gross receipts exceeds $750,000. E-pulltab revenue share fees are capped at 25%. New tax rates: 8, 17, 25, 33.5 While we appreciate the efforts of some legislators to put more money in our pockets, these changes will not offset the loss in revenue by removing the open all feature and bonus games. The future of these games is in danger. The effective date for the changes to E-pulltabs is January 1, 2025. We will continue to fight until that time. Allied Charities of Minnesota |
