State Rep. Travis Weaver, R-Peoria, filed House Bill 5814 on Monday to repeal an Illinois tax on sports wagering and fantasy contests. The measure targets a levy Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law in June as part of a broader state revenue package.

What HB 5814 Would Do

The bill, filed as House Bill 5814, seeks to repeal the tax on sports wagering and fantasy contests. Weaver told The Center Square that he believes the tax could face a court challenge, citing his view that no other state has adopted a similar levy and questioning its legal basis.

Part of a Wider Repeal Push

The sports-wagering and fantasy-contest tax was included in a revenue package passed by the General Assembly last spring and signed by Pritzker in June. The package also included taxes on digital assets, prediction markets and digital advertising, along with a social media platform fee.

Weaver said the package created five new taxes that had not been tried in other states. He has separately filed House Bill 5806 to repeal the social media platform fee and House Bill 5807 to repeal the digital advertising tax.

Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, also filed House Bill 5798 to repeal the digital assets tax. The Center Square reported that Cabello filed that measure less than a week after Pritzker signed the revenue package into law in June.

The Cost-of-Litigation Argument

Weaver’s objections extend beyond the taxes themselves to the potential cost of defending them. He said lawsuits had already been filed against three of the revenue measures and argued that challenges to the separate taxes could require funding for the attorney general’s office to defend the state.

According to Weaver, the state was anticipating costs associated with the new taxes rather than revenue from them. He said litigation could cost taxpayers millions of dollars and maintained that Illinois residents are already burdened by new taxes. Those assessments reflect Weaver’s position on the revenue package and its potential legal consequences.

What’s Next

HB 5814 has been filed. The proposal is Weaver’s latest effort to repeal one of the taxes included in the revenue package Pritzker signed in June, alongside separate bills aimed at the social media platform fee, digital advertising tax and digital assets tax.

The Center Square report identified the filing of HB 5814 but did not provide a hearing date, floor-vote schedule or other timetable for the measure.

The post Weaver Targets Illinois Levy on Sports Wagering, Fantasy Contests appeared first on ReadWrite.

This post was originally published on this site