I wrote: "e-mail your federal and state politicians (their favorite form of communication) and urge them to up the
W2-G limit to $5,000.
Pat Roach replied:
"The main beneficiaries of an increased W-2G minimum would be the casinos and the IRS. The casinos...because their W-2G paperwork is fairly labor-intensive. IRS...significantly fewer computer matches (our tax returns vs. the casinos W-2G filings) to deal with.
I don't mean to suggest the proposal is a bad idea....However, if we're going to launch such a campaign, we're better take care NOT to give the IRS the idea that we view an increased W-2G threshhold as an increase in the gambling winnings threshhold, below which we're not expected to report.
Precisely. Excellent point. The whole idea here is to save time, and time is money. I would be willing to draft boiler-plate verbiage we could all use that would urge action by our elected officials, assuring them it is not intended as a way to avoid paying our fair share, but the reality of today's gaming world mandates a change in a time- and labor-intensive endeavor.
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