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On a day when racing staged unprecedented strike action, former champion trainer John Gosden issued a stark warning on the potential consequences should the sport\u2019s plea to the Government<\/a> to shelve proposed gambling tax changes fall on deaf ears.<\/p>\n Planned meetings at Carlisle<\/a>, Lingfield, Kempton and Uttoxeter were all cancelled, with many of the sport\u2019s leading figures gathering at Westminster<\/a> in London<\/a> for the British Horseracing Authority-led \u2018Axe The Racing Tax\u2019 event, amid fears tax on racing bets could be raised from the current 15 per cent to the 21 per cent levied on games of chance.<\/p>\n Economic analysis commissioned by the BHA suggests such a rise could cost the sport at least \u00a366million and put 2,752 jobs at risk in the first year in what BHA chair Lord Allen has termed \u201cnothing short of an existential threat for our sport\u201d.<\/p>\n Gosden was one of several speakers at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre and explained how damaging he feels a rise in gambling taxes to a universal rate would be to his business.<\/p>\n \u201cThe implications are very dangerous. We\u2019re starting from a very weak position and this will take the lifeblood out of the game,\u201d he said, the feeling in his words clear.<\/p>\n \u201cI have 100 employees and I won\u2019t be able to sustain that. I\u2019ve been able to sustain that number this year, but if this continues the way it is going, I\u2019ll soon be in the situation of laying off 10, 20 or 30 people.<\/p>\n \u201cThat would be tragic, I desperately don\u2019t want to be in that position and you\u2019re talking to someone at the top of the tree \u2013 imagine how it is for the guys halfway down. If I can see the impact, that means they are already in the grinder.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not asking for anything other than to be left alone, I understand the Government\u2019s position but I think this is something that will rebound.\u201d<\/p>\n Gosden referred to the words of Dan Tomlinson, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, who described the potential change in taxation as \u201clevelling the playing field\u201d.<\/p>\n The Newmarket-based handler does not share that view, feeling British racing is already operating from a disadvantage as it attempts to compete with the more stable financial position offered by other racing jurisdictions.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI understand what he (Tomlinson) means, but he should see the playing field we are on compared to our international competitors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a weak position and this is only going to make us weaker.<\/p>\n \u201cIt concerns me greatly, we are in a fragile state already. As a trainer I am losing horses to other dominions because their revenues are far, far higher.<\/p>\n \u201cBritish racing is weakened by this continual pattern, people love coming to the big meetings here but we cannot rest on our laurels.<\/p>\n \u201cI would hate to see this industry go the way of others, other industries that we used to excel at but then we neglected them and squeezed the lifeblood out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Speeches were held on a stage in front of over 200 attendees, with the \u2018Axe The Racing Tax\u2019 logo visible on the screen behind as broadcaster Nick Luck hosted the event.<\/p>\n All of the speeches were warmly applauded, as was a moving video paying tribute to the retired staying hurdler Paisley Park that underlined how many industry employees contributed to his career.<\/p>\n Earlier, in Parliament Square, leading riders including Hollie Doyle and champion jockey Oisin Murphy posed for pictures holding an \u2018Axe The Racing Tax\u2019 banner.<\/p>\n In his address, acting BHA chief executive Brant Dunshea said: \u201cMy job is to create an environment where our owners, breeders, trainers, racecourses, jockeys and our wonderful, wonderful stable staff all thrive. If they thrive, our sport thrives.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen our sport thrives, the people of our great nation thrive, but when people fear for their future, the nation struggles. Its people suffer and hope in an industry can decline overnight.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Government says the purpose of this proposal is to create a simpler system. The Government says its purpose is to create a more streamlined system. And the Government says its purpose is to create a fairer system. The Government has encouraged all interested parties to participate and respond fully to this consultation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have, we are, and our response is clear \u2013 no, we do not support this proposed racing tax hike. British racing must be treated differently.\u201d<\/p>\n Dunshea later said he was \u201cabsolutely certain\u201d that the message was getting through to the relevant people.<\/p>\n A decision on any tax change is expected in the Budget on November 26 and while Tomlinson says racing\u2019s role in the \u201ccultural fabric\u201d of Britain is acknowledged, he underlined there has been no announcement yet.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cWe know horse racing is part of the cultural fabric of the country, that\u2019s why it\u2019s the only sector that benefits from a government-mandated levy. Our wider gambling consultation is only about levelling the playing field and simplifying the system, and we are working closely with the industry to understand any potential impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-128009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}