THE TAX ON KNOWLEDGE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 36, 13 February 1933, Page 6

THE TAX ON KNOWLEDGE

(To the Editor.) ■-■-".■ Sir,?— Th- remarks of "Ajax" in Saturday's "Post" anent the "tax on knowledge" •will receive the hearty support of all members o£ the reading public, and it ia to be" hoped that the Government will not^e so foolish as to make the position still worse by imposing the sales tax on books. The Australian Government lias recently removed both the primage and sales tax on all.classes of literature, having found by experience that the amount collected through these sources hardly compensated £.r the cost of collecting it, while at the same time it curtailed the imports of books enormously, thus severely penalising the country in its intellectual and educational life. '■'..

According' to the "Hobart Mercury," these taxes were imposed in defiance of the advice of the vTariff Board in the hope of-: % squeezing out of the boofcusers of the Commonwealth the sum of £100,000. The annual value of: imported literature into Australia before-the application, of the taxes was : about ; ;£ 1,300,000. After Ihe taxes* had been in" force some time it was -expected that this .sum would decrease by £500,000. The moral of these facts iS plain. . , -.:". ■

It is' difficult to understand why books should be taxed whilst magazines are exempt. For example, a well-known author writes a story. It first appears ,in serial form, and will "consequently-enter the country in magazine form free of. tax. Ultimately it will, appear' in book. form, when the poor> .buyer^ if: such: be then extant, will be! mulctedvin' the saleai;tax. However.^ there: is. stiUr some hope that the impost Jon books 'f-i may not yet be made. .The t Finance:- Minister has Stated" that the : Bible will not be eubject to tax as it will come under the clause religious tracts, and therefore be exempt. It would just be as logical > taking the above j*illustration' to say that the clause exempting magazines should also embrace books, and it is to be hoped that a generous interpretation o£ the clause will make this possible. In conclusion, there is another point which should not be overlooked. All books which come into the country do not find purchasers, yet the retail bookseller will be expected to pay a sales tax on a sale he does not make, and- the irony o£ the position is further emphasised by the fact that he ia* paying tax on a phantom profit of 20 per cent, as well. Apparently we have not sufficient knowledge to realise how little we know, and the "tax on knowledge" which "Ajax" rightly deplores is more than, ever pregnant with serious consequences to the country's intellectual advancement.—l am, etc., i. CAMPBELL.