County Passes Cut In Pulltab Taxes

Wed., Dec. 16, 1998

From Staff

Spokane County commissioners passed a tax break for bar and tavern owners who sell pulltabs Tuesday.

A common gambling amusement, pulltabs are bits of paper offering a chance to win hundreds of dollars for as little as a 25-cent wager.

Pulltabs will now be taxed on 10 percent of net profit instead of five percent of gross sales. While the county expects to lose $163,000 through the break, other gambling tax revenue is expected to offset the loss.

By the end of 1998, the county expects to collect $430,000 in taxes from two house-banked casinos offering blackjack and other card games.

The casinos were not in operation during the first three months of the year, so tax collections for 1999 will likely be higher.

In 1997, the county collected $367,000 in pulltab taxes.

The added gambling revenue was one of the major reasons commissioners Kate McCaslin and Phil Harris passed the tax break, which bar and tavern owners argued they needed to compete with the new casinos.

The new rate is the same as the city tax on pulltabs.

Commissioner John Roskelley voted against the tax break.

He argued earlier this month that it wasn’t fair to lower one group’s taxes just because another group is generating higher revenue.

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