A New UC-Merced Hospital in the Cards?

Say you have a good night at the casino and win $10,000, only to have your luck run out the next night and lose $12,000.

• You can deduct your losses against winnings and save yourself when state income taxes come due.
• That could be seen as a loophole tailored for casinos that depend on high-rollers. But loopholes are in the eyes of the beneficiaries, as Assemblyman Adam Gray, a Democrat from Modesto, is finding.

Gray, who chairs the committee that oversees gambling, is pushing legislation to eliminate the “net wagering losses” deduction.

Depending on how it’s viewed, that step would cost high-rollers $490 million or generate that amount for the state in the coming year, the Franchise Tax Board estimates.

• Gray proposes to earmark the money to pay for a new University of California teaching hospital at UC Merced and at UC Riverside, and provide clean water for a million Californians who cannot safely drink from their taps. His bill awaits an Assembly vote.

The influential Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations, which represents tribes that own casinos, is not pleased:

“Although seemingly popular, elimination of this deduction will have consequences–primarily on tribal governments–which we have not had the opportunity to adequately analyze given the absence of any meaningful consultation with Indian tribes.”

Source: WhatMatters/CALmatters, 6-5-19, at https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?e=cd8ca92ba1&u=5f4af3af825368013c58e4547&id=126db15239