TAX ON BETTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18468, 3 August 1923, Page 6

TAX ON BETTING.

PROPOSAL IN BRITAIN. ESTIMATE. 'OF THE YIELD. REV., J. J.' NORTH'S PROTESTS /'/. C^ltOK \ OUR OWN COBB'ESrONDENT.J ,',;■'. 1 LONDON. June 15. > Suggestions by the Board of Customs : and Excise for "levying 'a; duty on betting ; have been laid before ihb'/"Sel«ct Committett on Betting. Sir . Horace, Hamilton, chairman of the board, said' that as anything substantial which was raised by such proposals would, be given for the relief ;of ■ other; taxation, it was desirable that the return from betting should reach £10.000.000. Under the present provisions of i the law. he said, the tax would have to/be confined to- racecourse and credit betting, for the State could not. of course,, set out to tax illegal transactions. The main proposals were: — Every bookmaker should bo required to take out two licenses annually—one in respect of himself, and one in respect of his premises used for the business. These licenses, to be granted at the discretion of local licensing justices, should be at substantial fees, say, £10 for the personal license, and £20 for the betting office.-. . .•' ' . y A 10 per cent, duty-should be levied on all amounts staked with bookmakers. . If cash betting off. the course were legalised as a consequence of the imposition of a duty, the condition should be attached that it could,only be carried on in : a , licensed betting office. '.. Street betting would remain illegal. . p "■■'■;■- Machinery for Collection. - Dealing with the machinery of collection Sir Horace suggested that the duty should be a uniform percentage rate of the stake, whatever its amount, and that it should be collected by means of Government tickets sold at customs and excise offices and post offices, or on returns. As regarded cash betting, the normal course wouid be for the bookmaker to issue to the backer a Government ticket for the amount staked.' These tickets would be sold to the bookmaker at the duty value. Assuming duty to be at the rate of 10 per cent., a block of 100 tickets for 2s 6d bets would be sold to' him for 255, or a book of 110' 10s tickets for £5. . Thus the tax on cash betting would bo collected automatically. It should be made an offence punishable with heavy penalties for a bookmaker to take a cash, bet without issuing a Government ticket of the' correct denomination. * Total Amount of Betting. It was not contemplated that totalisators run by the State should be-set up, but any - privately-established totalisator would be, treated as a betting office. The tax could be collected on the basis of returns, as in the case of credit betting. 1 Estimates of the total, amount of betting had varied by hundreds of millions, and any figure named might be very • wide of the mark. It '- appeared probable, how.ever, that the present volume of batting was well over £100.000 000 a year. ; - "This figure of £100,000.000 a year." said' Sir Horace, "works out at about £2 5s a head of the population." As. to the yio'd, after making some allowance.for the effect of the tax on the volume of betting and of possible evasion,' it was estimated at at least £10.000,000 a year at the 10 per cent. rate. The chairman said that the committee went to Epsom to see the Derby, and they saw how betting was transacted. 'What I cannot help thinking," be said, "is that anything like a 10 per cent, duty would dry tip the resources available for betting. Would it not be better to start the scheme with a smaller duty before putting on the higher duty of 10 per cent ?" ~ Ten Per Cent. Not Too High. J Sir Horace replied that they wished to suggest a '.-ax which would contribute some millions; to the/ Exchequer. On the information at present available to the departs ment they did not consider 10 per cent. too high." # - "If betting is legalised," Sir Horace was asked, 'don't you think that a considerable number of people will look upon it as having taken on a more respectable character,.. and that it will lead 'to increased betting?" , ■' . "1 think the result would be that some people who do not bet now might bet if it were made legal, but others will refrain from betting." he replied. ,' From what Mr. Gershon; Stewart saw at JSpcom, he thought it would be very difficult to ensure that stamps would be put on in! the rase of bets made a few minutes before; a rac» ■'//•;/■■ ' ' ", Rev. J. 3. North's Protests 1 For some weeks now criticism of the proposed betting'tax has ceased,, save for that from the Rev. J. J. North. - Hi? observations continue to appear in various provincial newspapers. On the Sunday beforo last he spoke at the Whitefields men's meeting. "The ' protest of 4. the churches," he said, . "seemed to have ceased," and up to the present the evidence laid before the Parliamentary Commission has been concerned not at all With the in-', herent evils of betting, but with the question of how far the habit: can be used to .contribute to the revenue of the nation without lowering her prestige." He was surprised, he said, to find in England men of political eminence,, such as the present Prime Minister, showing en interest in the proposed betting 'tax. If; the experience of the world counted for anything, he added,- it showed that the most disastroas thing this ancient country could do wo-jld be to legitimise gambling; to put the stamp of State approval on a betting contract, ; which was vicious at, its heart, and in its out-working, was enervating to . the last degree . .: - ,; .