英国财政部目前正在审查一项新政策，计划提高英国网上赌博的征收税率，这可能对网上赌场玩家来说不是一个好兆头。根据本周公布的报告估计，提高在线赌博网站的征税点的可能会导致40％的英国赌徒无法支持自己赌博消费。

　　英国政府正在考虑放弃目前的白名单系统，该系统没有对境外的网上赌场征税赋税。此项新赌博税政策，意味着任何在线赌博网站进行交易的人都必须向英国缴纳赋税。只有向英国缴纳赋税的在线赌博网站才可以在英国被授予经营许可证。

　　有人建议赌场税应为15％，问题是此税率会严重伤害在线赌博网站的收益情况。此外，在线赌博网站经营者还必须向它们所在的司法管辖区缴纳赋税，也就是说在英国经营在线赌博网站，需要缴纳两次赋税。英国在线赌博网站在这两个赋税的冲击下，会大大减少利润。因此，根据财政部研究，如果实行新的在线赌博税政策，五分之二的公司可能会离开英国市场，因为它无利可图。对于其余较大型的在线赌博网站，可能会通过其他方式减少经营成本，例如减少免费奖金的优惠活动。

　　威廉希尔对此项在线赌博新税法表示反对，英国在线赌博市场已经为英国缴纳了10％的财政税收，英国的在线赌博新税法也许会扭曲英国的在线赌博市场。

　　译文

　　A Treasury review of possible results of planned UK taxation of online gambling does not bode well for supporters of regulation. The report released this week estimates that taxing online gambling companies at the point of consumption could lead to 40% of the UK gamblers spending their money at illegal unlicensed operators.

　　The UK government is considering abandoning its current White List system, which doesn tax offshore online casinos that operate in their jurisdiction and tasks the foreign governments with the regulation. The proposal is to tax at the point of consumption, which means any online gambling site that conducts a transaction with someone in the UK would be taxed by the UK. The companies would also have to be granted a license to operate in the United Kingdom.

　　The problem with placing that tax, proposed at 15%, on the casinos is that it will hurt their business. Each of those gambling operators is already being taxed at the jurisdiction in which they are located. To be hit with a second tax for accepting UK customers will reduce the profits. As a result, according to the Treasury study, two-fifths of the companies could leave the UK market, feeling it is no longer profitable. For the remaining companies, the cost will likely be passed onto the consumer in some way, such as by making the bonuses less generous.

　　William Hill, a sportsbook and online casino that accounts for 10% of the UK online gambling market, spoke out against the proposed taxes.  A spokesman was quoted in The Independent as saying 鈥渢he question for the government is, should it introduce policy which distorts markets.