Tuesday, Sept. 30, 1997 | 9:12 a.m.
Pat Schroeder says she won't be surprised if the National Gambling Impact Study Committee recommends such a tax.
"Everybody loves to tax everything," Schroeder said. "I think if you look at government, they're desperately seeking new sources of revenue."
Schroeder, in Las Vegas for the Barrick Lecture Series at UNLV, warned that a federal tax could cause problems because it would put the government in the position of promoting gambling to raise more tax revenues.
The threat of a federal tax last year prompted an all-out effort by Nevada and New Jersey casino interests to kill the idea, saying it was a step toward federal intervention in the industry.
Schroeder cited the cigarette tax as an example of what voters find palatable when additional funding needs arise.
"I think gambling, politically, is in a position where it may become the next thing that people look at that way," she said. "My guess is, to the average politician, if you count up members in the House and Senate, more of them don't have gambling in their districts than do. So this temptation to say, 'Let's tax gambling, and then I can offer a little tax relief for the people who vote for me,' has got to be very strong."
Schroeder, a Democrat who served 24 years in the House, added, "I think having government rely on gambling as a source of funding for schools or for hospitals or health care could be a little scary. It's kind of like relying on cigarette taxes to pay for lung cancer."
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