May 12, 2009 9:28AM # There Are Always Strings Attached… By [Sallie James](https://www.cato.org/people/sallie-james) --- SHARE Following up from my [blog entry last week](https://www.cato.org/2009/05/05/one-step-closer-to-gambling-online/) on Rep. Barney Frank’s (D, MA) efforts to reduce restrictions on Americans’ freedom to gamble online, it seems that the prospect of more tax revenue has made some folks see religion. An [article](http://www.texasinsider.org/?p=8937) from Texas Insider has details on the political shenanigans needed to get this bill passed, including an associated bill introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott (D, WA) to tax (at a rate of 2%) the deposits into online gambling accounts. Apparently, that could provide up to $43 billion in tax revenue over 10 years. For the children. Apparently we get our freedoms restored with a side-dish of tax. As an aside: Note long-term opponent Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s (R, VA) non-sequitur on why allowing the Frank bill to pass is a bad idea: > Apparently, Rep. Frank believes that \[Treasury Secretary\] Timothy Geithner can do a better job at enforcing our nation’s criminal laws than the Department of Justice, which is scary considering \[Geithner’s\] track record on complying with the tax code,” he said. (he is referring to the Frank bill’s proposal to shift responsibility for the licensing and regulation of online gambling companies to the Treasury) HT: hero of the revolution [Radley Balko](http://www.theagitator.com/2009/05/11/online-poker-picks-up-steam/). ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).