COLLECTING THE AMUSEMENT TAX

Shannon News, 28 March 1922, Page 3

COLLECTING THE AMUSEMENT TAX

TANGLES OF RED TAPE

A correspondent has drawn the Wanganui Chronicle's attention tu the inconvenient and expensive meihou followed in the collection of amusement tax, in the case of the van.;..,; sports functions which by an an.ending Act- of last session were mad.! subject to tax. Recently arrangemenis ware made for a local sports event, at which it was proposed to make a charge of 1/ per head for admission. It Avas not likely that there would be more than about 100 spectators,

so tliaf tire tax of Id would produce at the most between 15/ and £1 for the Government. The secretary of the club wrote before the date fixed lor a supply of stamped tickets. He received in reply a portentous envelope from the Commissioner of Stamps containing five foolscap forms to be filled in beiore the tickets could be sent, two foolscap pages of instructions, and three more foolscap forms to be returned alter the holding of the meeting. By tire time the forms of application reached Wellington it was

too late to send the tickets, so four more, forms were sent to enable the secretary to explain the-situation. As luck would have it the meeting had to be abandoned OAving to the weather; but bad it been held- it would have required the expenditure of fourteen pages of foolscap by the Stamp Department to collect about the same number of shillings to help pay lor

me war. • Now why in Hie name oi thunder and common sense, asks our correspondent, should not the secretary .of that club have been able to walk into the Post Office and buy the necessary supply of stamped tlckeis

over the counter, just as one buys postage-stamps? Such asy stem chit id he easily carried out, and provision could he made for refund of tax on return of unused tickets. 9he amount and cost of clerical work involved, both for the secretaries of clubs and for the Stamp Department it self, is so out of proportion to the tax collected, that it almost justifies the satirical comment of the secretary in question. The Government makes us pay amusement lax to pay for the war; they w ;JI soon have to start a fresh war themselves to get cost of collecting the amusement tax.