This topic should really should be generating more comment from anyone with an interest in betting.

The newly-formed Alliance For Racing has been proposing an increase in the tax from 1% to 2.5% and last week in the Dáil, the chairman of Horse Racing Ireland, Joe Keeling, called for a tax increase, adding that it should be seen as a duty and not a tax and that the betting customer should pay it.

Such a change would have a very significant impact on the day-to-day dealings of the betting public, bringing an end to what history is likely to view as the greatest-ever period for the Irish betting public, the better part of a decade during which they didn’t have to pay any tax on their stakes or winnings.

I have discussed this issue with many different people from many different interest groups in recent months and the case for increasing betting tax is a compelling one. The Irish are world-class when it comes to horseracing, but our industry is run on a relative shoestring budget that is dictated by the generosity of our Government and the size of which is uncertain from year to year.

This is unquestionably an unsatisfactory situation and if the money to finance our industry to an appropriate level can be generated in a fair manner from within the industry, as it is in the vast majority of racing jurisdictions, that would only be a good thing.

That said, there aren’t many punters who would be happy to return to the days of paying tax on their bets, be it on stakes or winnings, and convincing them that is a fair solution or even being able to enforce such a tax when tax-free betting remains in Britain would be a serious challenge. The best chance that those proposing such changes would have of getting such agreement/compliance would be to engage with the people they are proposing to tax, the betting public. Unfortunately, the betting public remain the only major interest group in the racing industry that do not have an organisation dedicated to representing their interests and to put forward their views.

The closest thing that the betting public have to official representation in the industry is the Racegoers Consultative Forum (RCF) which was established as a requirement of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001 “for the purpose of consultations relating to the operations of HRI in the context of developments of desired developments in the horseracing industry generally as they affect the racegoer or service or facility user”.

The RCF is due to make a submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee in relation to the Horse Racing Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014 on September 16th, so it will be very interesting indeed to see if they discuss the many issues relating to the interests of the betting public that the Bill raises or simply stick to the interests of non-betting racegoers. If the latter proves to be the case, the time may have come for something to be done to give the betting public the official representation that it needs and deserves in the industry.