Clause 19
Finance Bill
12:30 pm
Greg Hands (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Hammersmith and Fulham, Conservative)
I just have a couple of points to raise on the clause.
The threshold increases, as outlined in clause 19, are in line with inflation; we have no particular issue with them. However, I would briefly like to raise with the Minister the relationship between gaming duty and remote gaming duty. In a written parliamentary answer, she told the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Ellwood) that
“HMRC are not currently able to publish a breakdown of remote gaming duty while maintaining taxpayer confidentiality.”
Now that strikes me as a very curious answer. Real casinos cannot move offshore, but online casinos can. Is it really the case that the Government are raising so little revenue from the internet form of gaming duty that saying how much they are getting would compromise individual operators? I would appreciate an answer to that question, but other than that I have no comments to make on clause 19.