JEFFERSON COUNTY, AL – Jefferson County Revenue Department is seeking payment of millions of dollars of unpaid revenue taxes from 14 bingo halls that closed down this summer.
According to the Birmingham News the county revenue department is seeking payment of the county’s two-cent tax on every dollar of sales, including nearly $6.6 million in sales taxes from 12 of the bingo halls. Amounts of sales taxes sought from the other two bingo halls were not included in court records.
With penalties and interest added to the tax bill, the bingo halls will face payment of nearly $8 million. The companies in ownership of the bingo halls have filed appeals to the Circuit Court.
The county revenue department filed the emergency tax assessments on June 3, the day before the bingo halls shut down after the district attorney in the Bessemer Cutoff warned they faced raids if they did not close.
The county has collected sales taxes in the past from bingo halls in Jefferson County, generally filing the tax notices for a budget year that starts Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30. But the revenue department filed emergency tax notices in June because the bingo halls were about to shut down, court records show.
The city of Fairfield also has filed separate suits against seven bingo halls that had been operating there, seeking the full June payment of the monthly fee the operations pay. Employees at one shuttered bingo hall also have sued separately for back wages they contend they are owed.
The bingo debate in Alabama has been long running, since Governor Bob Riley started an anti-gambling Task Force, which he allowed to raid what he believes are illegal gambling premises.
source: Birmingham News