HORSE RACING

Sept. 29, 2019

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has referred the matter of horse racing and how it must be taxed to a Group of Ministers, even though the Fitment Committee had made its recommendations clear to the Council.

About:

The Fitment Committee had recommended that the GST on horse-racing should be payable only on commissions and not include the prize money.
Arguments sighted:
- The prize money which is currently being taxed under GST is leading to much more illegal betting.
- Also, lotteries and casinos were different from horse racing. Horse racing was a game of skill while lotteries and casinos were games of chance, and so the two should be taxed differently.
The Race clubs in India, have also pushed for a lower rate of GST — 18 per cent — on transactional value of betting — on the total bet value. At present, GST is levied at the rate of 28 per cent.