Arkansas Legislators Insult Public by Stopping Hearing On The Cutting Bingo Tax

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: On Wednesday, February 11, an Arkansas legislative panel delayed public input and discussion of a bill by Rep. Tracy Pennartz, D-Fort Smith, that would eliminate the 1-cent tax that lawmakers approved last session. Members of various American Legion and VFW posts crowded the committee room Wednesday to speak in favor of the HB1111. The formal scheduled hearing was for public input to members of the 87 General Assembly and was scheduled to begin at noon with no established time limit established.

People traveled from all over the state to express either their opposition or support of the proposed amendment. The majority came to support the amendment but their voices were not allowed to be heard. However, the committee, after hearing lobbyist opposing the bill for over a half hour with questions and answers, started to call Department of Finance & Administration (DFA) representative who also opposes repeal because they have established a a new enforcement unit which consumes $800, 000 in operational costs. However, one member rightly identified that the hearing was to garner input from the public. After hearing from just one person representing the VFW who supporting the amendment, panel members instead called for the DFA representative and proceeded to with a Q&A.

After an hour wasted by Q&A of the first speaker and the DFA representative, Rep. Kathy Webb, D-Little Rock, an open opponent of the amendment, moved to postpone the matter. The result was that no more people were allowed input. Only one person was allowed to speak in favor of the amendment. Disappointed people who felt this issue was important and had traveled from the four corners of Arkansas to address the issue were dismissed. It was the panel that had consumed the majority of time with questions and in an unprofessional manner insulted the people who had traveled to Little Rock at their public invitation to provide input on the bill.

One of the individuals attending the session was Frank R. Kaye, Commander of the Alley-White American Legion Post 52 in Mountain Home, AR. Kaye said, "325 miles, 7 hours driving time and I didn't even get to present my side of the story! And I was only 1 of 40-50 veterans who traveled from all parts of the state to testify at your committee meeting yesterday. Is this really how we, who served to protect the Constitution of the US and Arkansas, deserve to be treated? I can't begin to express just how upset I am."

At the center of the issue is the current bingo tax in Arkansas for charitable bingo is creating a huge financial hardship and burden on the charities and nonprofit organizations running bingo across the state. Less than 300 permits are held currently in Arkansas and many of those are only for raffles. The windfall to the State has amounted to $1,813,217 as of last month. The tax is being touted as a penny a card which is grossly misleading. Each nonprofit organization and charity has paid an average of $6,252.00, with $4,137.00 funding a state bingo regulation and enforcement operation.

Keith Dover of Little Rock who is the Public Relations Chairman for the American Legion Department of Arkansas identified:

"Many Legionnaires believe that the state enforcement is redundant and unnecessary. For many years, the state published bingo regulations, collected an annual fee and issued Non-Profit Bingo Establishment Registration Certificates. During this time, local law enforcement and local prosecutors policed charity bingo in a professional manner. Organized crime and casino style bingo halls have not been a problem. If there is a problem with a charity bingo operation, not only are local authorities better positioned to respond, they are also directly accountable to the local community.

Every dollar taken from Arkansas charities takes away from programs like Volunteer Fire Departments, Humane Societies, Parent Teacher Associations, Court Appointed Child Advocates, Cancer Support Groups, Senior Citizen Centers, Special Olympics, March of Dimes, Cerebral Palsy, children shelters, public and private schools, churches, youth organizations, museums and veterans’ organizations. The American Legion sponsors many youth programs state-wide, including Arkansas Boys State, American Legion Baseball, American Legion Oratorical Competition, Junior Shooting Competition, numerous Scholarship Awards, Flag Education, assistance to veterans and their families, particularly those mobilized overseas and numerous programs and activities all across Arkansas.

Much of the funding for these outstanding programs is seriously being affected by the current bingo tax, and members of the American Legion are urging lawmakers to amend the current legislation to eliminate the tax."

Frank Kaye of Mountain Home has sent a letter to all the legislative members expressing his frustration. He asked,

Do you really believe that DF&A's collection and auditing of this $1M excise tax - and the legislature's decisions on how to use that revenue -are more effective than leaving it in the hands of the non-profit veterans' groups that are DEDICATED to helping the thousands of needy in our state?

If your answer to that question is NO, then please put the bill back on the agenda as a Special Order of Business in the very near future. Let us present our side of the story, and call for a straight-up vote on the issue, rather than letting the bill 'lay on the table.'

If your answer is YES, then I suggest you really don't understand the economics of the situation! That $1M of tax revenue DF&A collected from us the first year would have gone directly to the aid of thousands of needy people across the state - without paying the salaries of 5 or 6 auditors and the needless travel expenses associated with the audits of 501 C's who are already reporting to the IRS, not to mention the other miscellaneous costs that government incurs.

In pre-Act 388 years, Post 52 gave ~$13K to14K per year to local charities, men's and women's shelters, food baskets, Salvation Army, etc., and funded 4 college scholarships per year. The first full year since the tax went into effect, we've managed only one (1) $500 scholarship and one(1) $500 donation to the Family Readiness Group of the ARNG 224th Maintenance Company; we repaid Post 52 the $6000 Bingo startup loan, paid $3250 in building expenses (utilities, insurance, etc), all the while remitting $15,136 in taxes to the DF&A! We actually gave out $2241 more in donations than we realized in net receipts!

Now in the 2nd year of this misguided tax, we have had to realign our business plan, dedicating all net Bingo receipts to charity, while absorbing the cost of running the business (utilities, insurance, etc) by holding at least one additional fundraiser per month. We've done this to try and bring our support of the local charities back to the pre-Act 388 levels, even though it places an additional burden on the members of this Post. And realize this, the average age of my volunteers who do all this work is about 75!

Please bring this bill back for a vote and vote to pass it. The poor among us need this help, especially with hard times ahead. And letʼs not forget, the voters overwhelmingly voted to authorize CHARITABLE BINGO, not another tax!

It appears that the legislators either 1) live in a bubble and have forgotten the sacrifice people must make to travel to Little Rock to speak to their committees or panels, or 2) really don't care and have established ways or methods agendas to deal with public input especially when it does not line up with their preconceived agendas. Whether you are for against taxing Bingo at an unreasonable rate, you must admit these legislators owe the public an apology. See also: Repealing the State Bingo Tax Is Not Enough

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Tags: American Legion, Arkansas, Bingo, Frank Kaye, Keith Dover, legislature, Little Rock, Mountain Home, Tax To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!