TAX ON AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1921, Page 5

TAX ON AMUSEMENTS.

Public indignation.

THE GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE.

A large deputation, representing the theatre, vaudeville and motion picture interests of the Dominion waited upon Sir Francis Bell (Acting-Prime Minister) and the Hon. W. Nos worthy recently, to request the removal of the amusement tax, which, they claimed, was a war tax, and should now be repealed.

Messrs. E. J. Righton, O. N. Gillespie (Wellington), and G. H. Saunders (Taranaki) were the spokesmen of the deputation, who pointed out that the tax was originally a war measure, and when it was imposed complete assurances Were given to the public to that effect. While the war was on, the public treated the irritating exaction as one of the burdens of war. and bore it with more or less cheerfulness. Since peace time, however, the public disapproval and discontent with the tax had steadily srown more intense, and the box offices were besieged daily by folks who wanted' to know when the tax was coming off. This irritation was universal all over New Zealand; and, being in close touch with the public feeling in this matter, they submitted that the time had come to remove the tax.

Mr. G. H. Saunders pointed out that at the conclusion of the war representative showmen from all parts of the Dominion met in conference to discuss the amusement tax, and it was then decided to again make an effort to pass ;on the tax*. The majority followed this i course, and had a Very hard battle with the public. But, with the aid of special advertisements and slides in our theatres, they made the public fully understand that the tax was a Government measure, and they could no longer bear the burden. The position has not grown easier with time, and they still have an ever-increasing agitation amongst their patrons for the removal of the tax. There was also a strong feeling of resentment amongst their patrons that they should be singled out for a special tax. whilst those who derive their amusement from numerous other forms of entertainment go scot free. The following is a list of amusements for which admission is charged, but on which no amusement tax is levied: Open-air amusements, i.e., football, cricket, hockey, swimming, tennis tournaments, boat races and regattas, athletic sports of all kinds, Caledonian gatherings, polo ’’tournaments, coursing, motor-cycle and cycle sports, Mardi Gras and other fetes, harbor and railway excursions, picnics, etc., flower shows, dog and poultry shows, skating, billiards, boxing, dancing, oazaars, lectures, choral, operatic. harmonic, and musical societies, and Y.M.C.A. presentations of motion pictures.

Sir Francis Bell, in reply, said: I rau-»t tell you that, so far us these representations have reached my comprehension, 1 am not moved personally by them from the attitude of the Government upon the subject. So far from taking off the tax, or treating it as a war tax, I think I speak for all the Government, except Mr. Massey, in saying that we regard it os a proper tax, by no means a war tax. and as a source of revenue derived from people who can abstain from taxing themselves if they like, by not going to a show. That is the point of view, so fur as the public are concerned. You, of course, have to be considered separately. So far from removing the tax, the Government has been in favor of largely increasing the tax. What has been considered by the Government, is the raising of the tax to a higher basis, -with the purpose of producing a higher revenue for the State.

A point made by the first speaker was that the amusement tax was a tax imposed upon a particular class of entertainment by reason of the exemption from the tax of so large a number of entertainments —entertainments for admission to which a charge was made to the public, but in respect to which no sum was levied in aid of the public purse. I agree' with that point of view, but in a different sense from the speaker, who approved of the exemption of these other classes of amusement, and claimed that their cxemption showed that picture shows and dramas, and vaudeville should also be exempt. I agree that all amusements should be on the same basis; but my point of view is that they should all be upon the basis of requiring that those who seek amusement should make some provision, some small provision, towards the public revenue. f don’t agree with the argument that it is a class tax; and I don’t think that any consideration of the agreements put forward would induce me to consider it a class tax. I don’t think it is a special class that goes to pictures; and 1 and my colleagues think it a tax which falls upon all classes of the community—except, perhaps, those who prefer religious exercises to amusement. (Laughter).