Could the amusement industry in Belgium be seen as an easy target for higher taxation?
The shift of power between the federal government and the country’s regional authorities could see this happen, it has been warned.
Belgium’s amusement arcades are generally found in seaside resorts and amusement parks, with most in-land arcades having switched to gaming some time ago. There is also a strong amusement presence within the travelling fairs, or luna parks.
Xavier Vincent of Arcade Belgium, an independent amusement association whose aim is to promote coin-op video games, explained that regional governments could potentially decide to increase tax in their own regions in order to balance their budgets.
“We don’t see any big change coming in the short term regarding taxes but as the balance of power is being shifted from the federal body to the different regions, the regions will have to do more with less resources They will be in need of more money and amusement and gaming business may be seen as good prey to feed on,” he told InterGame.
Sophie Bertrand, co-founder of Arcade Belgium, said that the lack of harmony in the country’s amusement laws is a major obstacle for the industry.
Operators pay their taxes in the region where their company is located but they can operate machines in other regions. The difference in value of operating taxes is unfair; a machine operated in a certain region by a company located in another region where taxes are lower will cost less to that company than the same machine operated in the same region by a local operator.
“This is absurd, especially since the regions are small in a country that has a size of just 30,500sq.km.”
