A House committee has voted to ease the tax burden for the Dubuque Greyhound Park. The House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill which would freeze the state gambling tax at 30 percent. Republican Representative George Eichhorn of Stratford says Dubuque’s in danger of going out of business if their taxes go up to 32 percent this year. He says that would mean the loss of 360 jobs, river development and money brought into the state by the casino. Eichhorn says the state’s three race tracks pay higher taxes than do the state’s floating casinos. The state tax on the riverboat casinos is 20 percent. The state gambling taxes on the race tracks in Dubuque, Altoona and Council Bluffs are scheduled to go up to 36 percent in 2004. Eichhorn and others will resist giving the tax break to Altoona and Council Bluffs, too. He says those two tracks are a lot bigger with more people to draw on. And he says they pay as much taxes as Dubuque has gross revenue.The legislation aiding the Dubuque track must clear the House, a Senate Committee, the Senate AND get the Governor’s signature before it’s law.