How to defeat the 90% phantom win tax

This is what I suspect anyone who churns a lot of money through the machines or tables is doing, but everyone who gambles even a modest amount should do it, too.

Keep a log of all your gambling "sessions," which as explained in a recent QoD, are periods of continuous gambling, perhaps with breaks, like a single day or a Vegas weekend. Record wins and losses. You'll be aggregating those entries to report a single result for the year.

The horrible injustice is that only 90% of your losses can be used to offset your wins. So say you win $20,000 and lose $20,000. You owe income tax on your nonexistent $2,000 "win."

Therefore:

For any gambling where your results aren't tracked, such as table games, sports betting, racing, etc., keep a results log as above, but overstate your losses by 10%. This will result in equity, as whatever overall wins you report will be reduced by the amount of phantom wins produced by the Trump tax policy.

Be sure to NOT do that when your results are being tracked, such as slots and video poker. If those games constitute the majority of your action, just buy in to a table game, play for a half hour or so, leave, and then record a substantial loss in your log. Such as, buy in for $1,000, cash out $985, but record a cash out of $770. No one is keeping track.

And yes, before anyone starts yeeping, I am indeed recommending that you do something illegal. But are we obligated to obey unfair and unjust laws? I think not!

Kevin is publicly recommending tax fraud 

I was certain Tom would chime in. He's a rabid Trumper and is irrationally hostile to me.

Since the 90% rule makes you pay taxes on nonexistent income, it is in and of itself fraudulent and we have no obligation to obey it.

For that matter, the entire Trump administration is fraudulent and we have no obligation to follow its decrees. I for one don't want my tax dollars to be used to blow up fishing boats and to create videos depicting the Obamas as apes.

I'm with Kevin on this. Who's really commiting fraud here? I say it's the IRS and this ridiculous rule. Why would you pay taxes on money you did not win? If people had money to waste I would love to see if it could stand up in court. 

Honestly, not sure why they tax winnings on gambling anyway. A lot of countries don't. It's complicated as hell and a waste of time since most lose anyway.

Many countries don't tax gambling winnings for either or both of two reasons: 1) they have casinos that are themselves fairly heavily taxed, so they don't want to tax winners and create a disincentive for them to play 2) they have national lotteries and don't want to create a disincentive to play.

I actually agree with taxing gambling income the same as any other, but a) NET for the year, not breaking it up into sessions or whatnot, and allowing gamblers to keep logs and submit them as proof, b) don't require itemized deductions; just have one line, "Other Income" on the 1040 and 1040A. There's no earthly reason to treat gambling income as "special."

I can't believe this dumb rule is actually essentially in effect.  

Well, I got my opinion blotted out from the QoD comment page because some MAGA bitched, but the real reason that this asinine rule exists is that the budget deficit created by the Big Pig Bill has to be made up somehow, and various groups will get screwed over first. Gamblers are an easy target.

The Big Pig Bill's fiscal insanity could perhaps have been withstood if the Trump economy wasn't like a punctured life raft. 

You're correct in that nobody expected this rule to ever become reality. But the Republicans on the committee opened their legs for Trump. Again.

It was slipped in by Crapo-R and nobody reads the bills.  Disgusting.   We need single issue bills.

Most gamblers here in WI at local indian casino don't even realize it.  The big slot players just keep filing away their W2G's and think they won't owe any tax on it.  Big surprise coming for them.  The big slot players aren't exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer as we all know to begin with.  

 I find it amazing that you point out the truth and Lewis feels justified to condone fraud while claiming that you are being hostile to him for pointing out his recommending fraud.