C.J.C. still hopes for tax relief

Press, 6 July 1977, Page 28

C.J.C. still hopes for tax relief

The Canterbury Jockey i Club lived in hope that the Minister of Internal Affairs! could successfully persuade, the Minister of Finance that, there was a good case fori taxation relief for racing and! trotting clubs, Mr J. A. G. Fulton, chairman of the C.J.C. told members at their annual general meeting last evening. Mr Fulton recalled that i this time last year there had ibeen much speculation about | anticipated relief for clubs. The formula proposed by ! the Conference was a reducItion in duty of 0.5 per cent I to be passed on to the clubs

and the T.A.B. plus a rebate of 2J per cent of the first $lOO,OOO of each day of racing rather than the first day only, as existed. “No variation to the statutory deduction was discussed or even hinted at,” Mr Fulton said. “This was not to be and it is regrettable that the additional 0.5 per cent given to clubs was financed by increasing the Government duty by 0.18 per cent, while the extra 0.5 per cent was not allowed on T.A.B. investments.

“Taking some $570,000 off the punter was certainly not the way the clubs wanted it and indeed was contrary to the undertaking given by the Government,” said Mr Fulton.

“In addition the extra 0.5 per cent did not become effective until September with the result that the oncourse turnover of more than $1 million at the Grand National meeting did not earn the $5OOO which appeared rightfully due to the club. Despite protests the club missed out on that additional income. Mr Fulton said that the spectacular success of the 1976 Grand National meeting had been in no small way due to the New Zealand Racing Authority in making available special stake subsidies for the Grand National Steeplechase, Grand National Hurdles, and Winter Cup. Special subsidies had also been granted for the Canterbury Gold Cup and the Churchill Stakes at the New Zealand Cup meeting. Much criticism had been levelled at the Authority by people who should have known better, Mr Fulton said. If time was taken to read from the Racing Act the functions and powers of the Authority it was hard to see why such criticism had been rife.

The attempt to establish an autonomous body had been something of a dream, but Mr Fulton said be believed the Authority had earnestly attempted to achieve that dream, only to be thwarted from time to time “by parochial issues which have become political.” In reviewing the racing season, which lie described as something of “an uphUl and down dale” affair, Mr Fulton said that the estimated reduction in income from the day’s racing on a rainaffected Easter Monday was about S7OOO. But for that setback the club’s loss of $17,463 for the year would have been less than the amount of depreciation charged against the year's operations.

Probably the most important reason fcr the high standard of racing during the season was the reduction in starting limits to

18 horses, Mr Fulton said. The success of this move was best measured by the decrease in instances of culpable race interference. One of the matters of Interest to racing in general In the last few months had been the pressure on the New Zealand Racing Conference to grant apprenticeships to lady riders, Mr Fulton said. “I can understand their reluctance to grant this where age and family relationships are outside the normal concept of apprenticeships,” Mr Fulton said. “I do believe, however, that lady riders of suitable age and experiece should be licensed in the future.” SOUND RESOURCES

Although the loss of $17,463 appeared to be a major setback after a break-even point had been reached last year, the cash resources of the club remained sound, said Mr Russell Boyd, honorary treasurer of the club, in seconding the adoption of the annual report and balance sheet.

Interest on investments identified as the Stand Replacement,Reserve had yielded $9697, entrance fees paid by all members elected since October, 1976, and credited to the reserve had totalled $3470. When that sum of $13,167 was deducted from the actual excess of expenditure over income of $17,463 the loss was reduced to $4296, said Mr Boyd. After deducting the depreciation charged against the accounts the result was a cash surplus of $8440 on the year's operations. Net totalisator proceeds might have been expected to have increased by a greater sum, taking into account an extra race day and the additional 0.5 per cent commission on 10 of the 13 days, Mr Boyd said. This had been one area where unexpected expenditure in the maintenance of equipment and supply of spare parts was evident and very necessary-.

“The 24 per cent increase in the allocation of T.A.B. distributed profit was most welcome and came at a time when, if it had not been received, a sorry picture would have been presented,” Mr Boyd told members.

"Increased efficiency with automated cash betting offices nowcovering about 78 per cent of the total off-course betting was given as the reason for the large profit,” said Mr Boyd. “Although this is encouraging as far as the distributed profit is concerned, it Is disheartening for clubs who find that they are facing decreased attendances and turnovers while T.A.B. investments continue to rise dramatically. “In only four years the combined on and off-course turnover for the club has increased from $6.4 million to $10.2 million. The proportion of on-course betting to the total, in 1973, was 40 per cent. In the year just concluded the proportion was 35 per cent. This decline had been steady and under present conditions there seemed little likelihood of it being halted, Mr Boyd said.

In the same period, he added, Government Totalisator Duty had risen by $368,000 to $932,000 (or 65 per cent). The net tote proceeds combined with the T.A.B. distribution had risen $167,000 to $463,000, or 59 per cent. “It can be seen who has been the real beneficiary,” Mr Boyd commented. The uncertain economic conditions made it rather difficult to anticipate what the situation would be at tills time next year, but members could not expect anything spectacular in the club’s financial policies in the near future, Mr Boyd said.