RACING TAXATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 96, 14 July 1927, Page 6

RACING TAXATION

AN IMPOSSIBLE STRUGGLE SUBSTANTIAL STAKE REDUCTION

cJ n r. £Ln^, a £ Pe ? dix to h ‘s main report Su G. Cliitord, Bart., President of the Racing Conference, dealt with the seriousness of the position affecting racthf a ? d trottin = clubs as a result of states^— Vy taxation - T1 'c report The design of the legislature has been to create special systems of taxo - “° n f or racing and trotting clubs, and not to bring these clubs under the general system in ejistence. The timehas arrived for a review of the effect of the special taxes imposed upon racing and trotting. Protests from the public, the clubs, and the owners, are growing stronger, and there is no doubt that they ueserve the attention oi the Government. Putting on one side the question of the fairness of the special taxation of lacing and trotting, it is now plainly evident tiiat the limit at which taxation can be imposed on both sports with pront to the State and witnout injury to them was reached when tile Z \ per cent. .Dividend fax was imposed in 1915. this limit was passed When the Dividend rax was doubled in .. Pile eiiecL was percepuuie at once, me LotansaLor investments at race meetings atone uecreaseu £ 1,325,0-i t, aitiiouga me increased Lax was oniy in operation lor seven months during cue iy-i-x« racing year, rue following year (192 2-23,) tne decrease amounted to £2,ub±,oU3. m 1923-2* tne decrease was £2,152,409. m 11124-25 it was £i,633,0<9, in spite of an increase oi mil teen days racing. Last season (.1925-26) cue decrease reuenec i,bt>i» J ‘iil. Pile decrease lor tile current season (1926-2 0 will be amicst greater man in any oi tne previous years, ana m comparison Witn ia&e years investments wm L . AC ,,,. £ l,ubU,UOv. Tne resuif is that the State has materially mcieaoeu us the loss to racing and trottingv«.r_v great. Pne nign staiiaa.u oi oreocnuL and racing in New Zealand has been attained by reason of the revenue from the totalisator providing the stakes, and such a substantial reduction thereof caused by excessive taxation is very damaging in its effect. The decrease in stakes alone is just on £50,000, and the average total stakes per day's racing has decreased from £2,250 in 192122 to £1,895 in 1925-26. The average stake per race has decreased by £44. The stakes for the ensuing season will be substantially reduced. The public are waking up to the fact that they are engaged in an impossible struggle when 15 per cent, is taken by the Government and the clubs off every £ invested on the totalisator. It is only reasonable to suppose that an intelligent public will recognise an obvious fact. It is the opinion of those who have given this matter much study that a collective levy on the totalisator investments of more than 10 per cent, can only result in progressively restricted betting and reduced totalisator returns. A 10 per cent, deduction is the greatest which can be imposed with profit to the State and without injury to the clubs. This fact was strongly forecasted at the interview with the late Prime Minister when he increased the Dividend Tax —not as a war tax—but as a temporary expedient to help the Government out of the financial difficulty due to the slump. A decrease in the amount of the Dividend Tax would make the bookmaker’s calling less lucrative, and therefore less attractive, while it would simultaneously offer more inducement to bettors to patronise the toto lisa tor.