TAX ON NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1927, Page 25

TAX ON NEWS

(By " Jeff.")

AN ATTEMPT THAT FAILED BIRTH OF THE CHEAP NEWSPAPER

Once again the Labour Premier of New South Wales finds himself up against a brick wall. In an endeavour to bolster up the State finances Mr Lang imposed. a halfpenny tax on newspapers. In a city such as Sydney, with a population of well over a million, such a tax was calculated to return a considerable amount to the coffers of the State, but the High Court has declared the tax invalid. Mr. Lang's idea of taxing newspapers was not an original one. It was tried m England as far back as 1712, and although it had a much longer life than the New South Wales experiment it was never very popular, and was withdrawn on loth June, 1855. The English tax was aimed chiefly at tho cheap newspapers, which began to flourish towards the close of the seventeenth century. At that time a number of halfpenny and farthing sheets were being published. These, for the most part, were small leaflets, containing but a few news items and fewer advertisements, and were sold in the streets by hawkers. The increase of these newspapers, many of which were used purely for propaganda purposes and were often obj3ctionable, caused the Legislature to contemplate the imposition of a tax of one penny per sheet. At once there was a storm of protest on the part of owners of these sheets, and it is recorded that one pamphlet had the following to say about the tax: — The said newspapers have always been a whole sheet and a half, and sold for one halfpenny to the poorer sort of people, who are purchasers of it by reason of its cheapness, to divert themselves, and also to alluro herewith thqir young " children and entice them to reading, and should a duty of three half-pence be laid on these mean newspapers (which, by reason of the coarseness'of the paper, the generality of gentlemen are above conversing with), ,it would utterly extinguish and suppress the same. Even this classical example of selfabasement fell on deaf oars, for in 1712 a tax of a halfpenny per sheet was imposed by the Government. At oncu the cheap newspapers ceased to exist.

Apparently the Government was enamoured of the idea of a newspaper tax, for the tax was gradually increased until in 1815 it stood at fourpence per sheet! Tho price of newspapers in those days—surely bad old days—was sovenpenee per copy. One historian asserts that had it not been for tho tax the normal price of newspapers would have been a halfpenny and would have continued so until the present day. As has been said, tho tax on newspapers was never very popular, and at the beginning of tho nineteenth century several reductions wero made, with a corresponding decrease in tho price of newspapers. Finally, in 1855, tho tax was repealed, and again the cheap newspapors came into their own. London dailies, with the exception of "The Times," wero sold for a penny, and halfpenny newspapers also became common. Since then the reading public has been able to procure its newspapers at small cost.

The cable messages tell us that Mr. Lang has refused to comment on the decision of the High Court.