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Finance Bill

The industry can have any opinion that it likes about the taxation system that applies to it. I am not responsible for the opinions of the bingo industry; it can welcome the measures or not. What I am talking about is the effective tax rate. Prior to the changes that we are suggesting in the Finance Bill, the effective tax rate for bingo consisted of VAT participation fees at 17.5 per cent. and the bingo duty of 15 per cent. Removing VAT fees and increasing bingo duty to 22 per cent. means that the effective tax rate is 22 per cent., not the 24 to 25 per cent. figure that was acknowledged by all sides prior to the Budget, and that featured in the Bingo Association's Budget submission. In fact, the hon. Member for Dundee, East, quoted a 28 per cent. figure last year, but those of us who were involved with the Finance Bill last year will remember that there was widespread acknowledgement that the effective tax rate for bingo, taking the factors that I mentioned into account, was between 24 and 25 per cent.