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Horseracing Body Launches Anti-Tax Campaign Over Expected Government Hike

  • BHA campaigning to fight UK’s tax hike that could cost racing £66m in lost income
  • Body warned of risk to thousands of jobs and threat to the future of the UK horseracing
  • The body said its Axe the Racing Tax public campaign will rollout over the summer
Horseracing track in UK
The BHA is campaigning to fight the UK’s proposed tax hike that could cost horseracing £66m in lost income. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

One-tax whammy 

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has announced a campaign over the UK government’s expected move to increase tax on horserace betting by grouping all current online betting duties into a single rate.

The proposed hike would see horseracing’s existing 15% tax rise to 21% in order to match the duty currently paid by firms offering online games of chance.

one of the gravest risks to racing the sport has ever seen”

The BHA took to X Tuesday to announce the upcoming launch of its Axe the Racing Tax campaign in the face of what one of its execs called “one of the gravest risks to racing the sport has ever seen:”

BHA’s Acting CEO Brant Dunshea stated it was “vital that everyone working in racing, the media and bettors fully support and promote” Axe the Racing Tax.

According to a BHA release, the government’s proposed hike in the Autumn Budget could hit racing with £66m ($90m) in lost income.

Grave consequences predicted

The estimated lost income figure includes media rights and sponsorship along with the tax. The BHA stated this was because betting firms were “likely to seek to mitigate significant tax rises through cutting bonuses, reducing advertising and marketing budgets and increasing prices.”

The BHA also estimated what would happen if His Majesty’s Treasury increases the current 21% tax rate. Tax hikes to 25%, 30%, or 40% could equal a loss of income of £97m ($132m), £126m ($171m) or £160m ($188m), respectively, stated the body. 

The bottom line from the BHA is that the single tax rate would significantly hurt the industry.

punch a huge hole in racing’s finances”

Dunshea stated: “It will punch a huge hole in racing’s finances, risk thousands of jobs across Britain and threaten the future of the country’s second most-popular sport and a cherished national institution.”

As such, the BHA is campaigning for all involved parties to write their local Members of Parliament to Axe the Racing Tax and pressure government ministers into rethinking the single tax proposal. 

Dunshea said the BHA will use the time ahead of the fall budget to hammer home “a very simple message to MPs, Peers and the government on behalf of millions of racing fans.” The message is, stated the CEO: “It’s time for the government to back British racing and axe the racing tax.”

What next?

The racing authority stated it would also formally respond to the UK economic and finance ministry’s consultation on the tax proposals, which ends July 21. “The Treasury will consider its options ahead of the Budget this Autumn,” the BHA added. 

The body said its Axe the Racing Tax public campaign will rollout over the summer.

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