Aussie POC gambling tax on hold until national gambling framework is in place

The recent agreement between federal, state and territorial governments in Australia on the imposition of a point-of-consumption tax on online gambling (see previous reports) was in the headlines again Thursday when the Victoria provincial newspaper Herald Sun reported that the state government stands to take in A$150 million when the new tax is implemented.

Our readers will recall that the p.o.c. tax concept was introduced last year by South Australia, and was positively received by most of the other states and territories at meetings earlier this year.

The Herald Sun reports that Victoria has agreed with other states and territories to hold off on implementation until a national online gambling framework – for regulation and taxation – has been explored, debated and agreed.

That hasn’t stopped the Victorian treasurer from including online gambling tax estimates in his budget papers, the newspaper reports.

The current status is that state, federal and territory treasurers have agreed that each will model how a nationally consistent point of consumption tax could work and report back to a further meeting.

Any tax would have Commonwealth oversight, a recent communique revealed.