AC pays just 9.35 percent on casino revenues
New Jersey Senator Paul Sarlo, who supports an expansion of casino gaming beyond Atlantic City, would impose a hefty price tag on such a development: a 66 percent tax rate.
According to NJ.com, Sarlo, who is head of the Senate Budget Committee, says a casino at the Meadowlands or anywhere else in North Jersey should pay far more than its counterparts in Atlantic City. In the shore resort, which has fallen on hard times since the legalization of gaming in Pennsylvania and other nearby states, the gaming halls fork over 9.25 percent?8 percent on gross receipts and 1.25 percent as an “investment alternative tax.”
Under Sarlo’s formula, the state’s portion of gaming revenues would be split three ways, with one-third going to the state’s general fund, one-third earmarked for the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, and the remaining third going to the Hackensack Meadowlands Tax Sharing Stabilization Fund.
New Jersey Senator Ronald Rice, like Sarlo a Democrat, also wants to raise gaming taxes. His bill, which was advanced by the State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee in the Senate in June, would increase taxes on lottery winnings by .5 percent. The rule would apply to any winnings over $600. Rice would use the additional income to support after-school programs in urban areas.
