Uncle Sam should look elsewhere for an additional cash grab.

The Internal Revenue Service, as we reported Saturday, is hoping to reduce the requirement for reporting slot machine and bingo winnings from $1,200 to $600, a move that is certainly not going to win the government office any favorability, especially among gamblers.

Under current law, casinos must file tax information forms if a player wins $1,200 or more on a slot machine jackpot or a bingo game, and winnings of $1,500 on a game of keno. Those minimums were set in 1977.

Other games, such as poker and blackjack, would not be affected by the change.

Casino industry folks say lowering the reporting threshold would cause machines to lock up more often and force casino patrons to fill out more paperwork.

“Not only would this potential policy change create additional burdensome and unnecessary reporting requirements for gaming companies, but it could also cost states millions of dollars in revenues that support vital public services,” Sara Rayme, senior vice president of public affairs of the American Gaming Association, said in an email. “Rather than going backwards, the gaming industry seeks forward-looking policies that enable our industry to reinvest, innovate and create more jobs.”

Rayme and others in the industry might be right, but here in Vicksburg, as in other communities where gaming taxes are a valued commodity for local governments, taking cash out of our community and shipping it off to Washington, D.C., doesn’t sound like the most productive idea.

As Uncle Sam’s piece of the pot grows bigger, Vicksburg and Warren County’s share would continue to shrink.

We realize that not everyone in our community supports gaming, but in one way or another, gaming supports them.

For this reason we ask residents to speak out by writing letters to Internal Revenue Service, Attn: CC:PA:LPD:PR, (Notice 2015-21), Room 5203, P.O. Box 7602, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, D.C. 20044, or send them an email at comments@irscounsel.treas.gov and include “Notice 2015-21” in the subject line.