Online Gambling Tax May Be Jackpot for Congress, Lawmaker Says

When U.S. Representative Jim McDermott went looking for revenue to improve foster care for kids, he said he stumbled on what may turn out to be a jackpot: a tax on Internet gambling.

McDermott is seeking to impose taxes on online poker and other Internet gambling that could bring the federal government as much as $42 billion over 10 years, according to a congressional analysis. States may collect as much as $30 billion, McDermott’s office estimates.

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Editorial: Senate Has to Do Better

Banks ahead, American taxpayers lagging behind. That’s the disappointing reality here after the first week of Senate action on the financial reform bill.
Senators overwhelmingly rejected an important provision that would have required large financial firms to pay $50 billion upfront to create a so-called resolution fund, which would have been used to dismantle big banks at risk of failure. Instead, the bill now authorizes regulators to borrow the needed cash from the Treasury to be paid back later, mainly by selling off assets of the failed firm.

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MORE AMERICAN EXPATRIATES GIVE UP CITIZENSHIP

 
WASHINGTON — Amid mounting frustration over taxation and banking problems, small but growing numbers of overseas Americans are taking the weighty step of renouncing their citizenship.
“What we have seen is a substantial change in mentality among the overseas community in the past two years,” said Jackie Bugnion, director of American Citizens Abroad, an advocacy group based in Geneva. “Before, no one would dare mention to other Americans that they were even thinking of renouncing their U.S. nationality. Now, it is an openly discussed issue.”
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