NTRA urges horseplayers to comment on tax proposal

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association is coordinating with account-wagering companies and racing organizations with large mailing lists to drum up support for proposed changes to tax laws affecting withholding on pari-mutuel winnings, NTRA officials said Wednesday.

The campaign to urge organizations to contact their members is being ramped up at a time when there is a little less than two weeks remaining in a public-comment period on the proposed changes. The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of the Treasury posted the proposals earlier this year, with the public-comment period remaining open until June 2.

An NTRA official said on Wednesday that approximately 3,000 people have submitted comments through a form on the NTRA website, but Treasury officials have recently told the organization that more comments are needed if the changes are to be seriously considered.

:: Submit your comments to the U.S. Treasury

The NTRA has an internal goal of 10,000 submissions, according to the organization’s chief operating officer, Keith Chamblin, and it has lately secured pledges from all the major account-wagering companies and several large racing organizations like the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association to distribute alerts to their mailing lists about the importance of submitting comments, Chamblin said.

The proposed changes would reduce the number of bets that trigger IRS notifications and automatic withholding by using the total amount bet into a pool by an individual, rather than the base denomination of the bet.