Beat - The US Dollar

Even though our dollars are collectively strengthening against the greenback, the majority of us o/s won't feel the benefits. Those who will are the importers who will not pass on the savings to consumers.

No I don't have to pay taxes on my poker winnings but I would if it was my sole source of income.

Also, with talk of American interest rates rising this should be good news for your currency. Also this will increase tourism and exports for the US as well. These things are in a constant state of flux, and if you hedge your investments properly they will not affect you.

FWIW i'm living in the Sydney CBD where living expenses are quite high.

[maxtower]

The price of a gallon of gas probably hasn't tripled where you live though.

[bubaloo]

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As a non-american poster, I agree its obnoxious.
Claiming americans are above this type of behaviour may be a bit rash though, I mean have you never heard an american crack a joke about Zimbabwan inflation or similar?

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Nope.

Other countries losing wars, sure.

BTW, if there's any more domestic inflation than usual, I haven't noticed it. Which probably means this is purely an artifact of the currency markets; either the dollar was overvalued before or it's undervalued now.

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[Gullanian]

Can someone actually explain to me why this matters much to ms players? Or any poker players?

I mean, if it's that big a problem just move up a level to compensate for lost winnings, but we are only talking a few % here?

[RevAgain]

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Not my fault my government doesnt see the "logic" in taxing gambling winnings [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

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For once they're quite right. Apart from the difficulty in collecting taxes from people who are winners at gambling, a very very small percentage, it's grossly unfair to tax gambling winnings and not allow you to write off gambling losses against your tax bill.

The situation in the States and other places that tax gambling winnings is disgraceful. There are already taxes on all the profits made by the casinos/lottery vendors etc. and presumably a percentage of lottery sales go direct to the state too. Taxing the winners on top, it not allowing losers to write off, is a sick joke.

A similar situation exists in the UK with massive duty being levied on fuel, cigarettes, alcohol etc., then VAT @17.5% (sales tax for those in the US) being levied on the sale price, when the Government's own duty charges makes up the vast majority of that price!

[Lori]

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Can someone actually explain to me why this matters much to ms players? Or any poker players?

I mean, if it's that big a problem just move up a level to compensate for lost winnings, but we are only talking a few % here?

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When I started playing online the exchange rate was 1.45 or so, so if i won $1450 I got £1000 in my normal currency.

Now at 2.06, I get £703.88, so it's quite the pay cut.

I'm lucky enough that I moved into mainly using £ anyway, but to say it's not much difference is pretty silly IMO

<font color="white"> Lori </font>

[Gullanian]

Ok that makes more sense. Wouldn't it be easier just to put your BR in £ though anyway?

[RevAgain]

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The price of a gallon of gas probably hasn't tripled where you live though.

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And LOL @ this if you're in the States. A litre of petrol here is about £1 - that's $10 a gallon.

[Gullanian]

UK petrol is expensive, about 85% of the cost is tax.