TAX UPON TOTALISATOR.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1921, Page 3

TAX UPON TOTALISATOR.

THE PROPOSED INCREASE. Commenting upon th.? proposal to increase the tax on the totalizator, Mr Boyle, a well-known member of the committee of the Canterbury Jockey Club, said: “I can only give my personal opinion on the subject. To begin with, the Canterbury Jockey Club, at the present moment, has eight taxes to pay, to the Government —totalizator tax or 2J per cent., dividend tax of 2* per cent., a rebate of all fractions. 1 per cent, on the stakes, a tax on privileges, income tax, amusement tax (which used to be paid out of the club's own funds and not passed on to the public), and a tax of Ils on every member’s subscription, which amounts to 20 per cent on the €5 ss. “It appears to me that if further taxation is imposed it must drive the clubs to lessen their stakes and to reduce expenditure on improvements. In addition the investor on the totalizator will begin to realise that his dividend will be so reduced that he will be able to get better prices from the bookmakers. “The Government would surely be doing a wise thing if it allowed money to be telegraphed to the clubs for investment on the totalizator, because that would naturally bring a large amount of additional revenue to the Government. Had not the totalizator been in existence and the clubs able to offer aood stakes, breeders would have been unable to import the valuable sires and mares that have come to New Zealand. It is only by the importation of such etock that the standard of thoroughbreds can possibly be kept up.”