Second UK investigation into touting announced

In the UK, Westminster's All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music has announced it will be holding an inquiry into ticket touting later this year, with a view to reporting in 2015. The investigation will specifically focus on the impact of the booming secondary ticketing market on the music business, the artist community and music consumers. The separate and newly formed APPG on Ticket Abuse had already said it too would investigate secondary ticketing and hat group held its first evidence session on Wednesday with representatives from the sport, theatre and music sectors contributing, including Kilimanjaro Live CEO Stuart Galbraith.

Ticket tout sentenced for tax evasion

A London ticket tout had been handed a suspended prison sentence after failing to pay nearly £200,000 in tax. Donald Tiffin, of Park Road, Hampton Wick, had deposits of more than £915,000 in his own bank account and a further £656,000 had been paid into his girlfriend’s account.  The 63-year-old earned the cash by selling a range of tickets and packages to events including Wimbledon, the Champions League and the 2009 British Lions tour of South Africa and HM Revenue & Customs said the 63 year old failed to pay a total of £193,000 in income tax and VAT. Tiffin had admitted two counts of cheating the public revenue. He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, for failing to pay income tax, and to 18 months, also suspended for two years, for failing to pay VAT. He was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid community work and a compensation order in the sum of £193,000 was issued when he appeared at the Old Bailey.

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/10783627.Ticket_tout_failed_to_pay___193k_in_taxes/

Michigan lawmaker seeks to make scalping legal

A Michigan politician says he wants to make it legal to sell sporting event or concert tickets above face value and has introduced legislation that would repeal a 1931 state law that bans ticket scalping unless it's authorised by the venue or event operators. Republican Rep. Tim Kelly of Saginaw Township said he is lining up bipartisan support for his bill. He says it's a common-sense measure that would let the free market decide the price of a ticket saying "An individual who buys a ticket to a sporting event or concert owns that ticket, and they should have every right to sell it if they so choose" adding "This legislation, quite literally, is about allowing the man on the street to sell tickets at fair market value to willing buyers. It creates more fairness while providing some relief to our already overburdened court system."

Kelly said here is no reason for the government to interfere in a transaction between a willing buyer and willing seller. The legislation now goes to a House committee for consideration. And one of Kelly's Democratic colleagues said allowing ticket re-sales is a matter of fairness. Rep. Doug Geiss of Taylor introduced a bill last term that would have limited price markups on ticket websites to up to 10 percent more than face value and also require online resellers to publish the original price of the ticket. That bill did not reah the committee hearing stage and Geiss said he now supports Kelly's proposal saying "As the law currently stands, it doesn't make sense why can I go online and charge somebody $500 for a $50 ticket, but if I sell it in front of a stadium, if I sell it for $51, I can have that ticket confiscated from me," Geiss said.

Local promoters, arenas and music and sporting venues are reviewing Kelly's scalping bill although most remain firmly opposed.

http://www.thestate.com/2013/11/03/3075766/michigan-bill-would-make-ticket.html