NO TAX ON BETS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18996, 18 April 1925, Page 2 (Supplement)

NO TAX ON BETS.

" NOT A VOCATION." ASSESSMENT CHALLENGED. COURT UPHOLDS APPEAL. Are the gains from private bets subject to income tax ? This point was raised by Mr. Alexander Graham, sen., of Amcrsham, Buckinghamshire, who appealed in the High Court last month against an assessment of £3OO in respect of betting transactions. The Income Tax Commissioners held that betting on horses from his home had been Mr. Graham's only moans of livelihood, apart from interest on his bank deposit. Mr. Graham contended that the fact that he did not attend race meetings, that he was not a professional bookmaker, that his bets took place from his own house with bookmakers at starting prices, and that they consisted only of his own private bets exempted him. Mr. Barringtori Ward, K.C., for Mr. Graham, said he was not earning profits or income from any trade, profession, employment or vocation. He was merely amusing himself. He was not a professional bookmaker. Betting privately was alien to an employment or vocation. He merely shared in other people's losses. Mr. Justice Rowlatt: 1 never understand betting. It is more mysterious to

, me than foreign exchanges, so don't talk [ to me about " starting prices." Mr. Ward added that although Mr. Graham might have won money on balance, ; setting his losses against his gains, yet it was nothing more than as if he had ■ won money by playing bridge at his • club. The Solicitor-General, Sir Thomas Inskip, ICC., said the Commissioners found , that Mr. Graham was engaged in a vocation. These were the profits or gains of a vocation which lie relied on as a means of livelihood. The Judge: May a man be taxed on his receipts from begging ?—Certainly, if he made a living by it. He might consult , Ruff's Guide. The Judge: what it that ?—My junior tells me it is the book these professional punters consistently refer to. The Judge: what is a "professional punter?" The Solicitor-General said he was repeating what he was told. He understood it meant the opposite to a bookmaker. Asked how the Revenue people found out that Mr. Graham was doing all this betting, the Solicitor-General said they might have noticed the number of telegrams he sent. The Judge: Do you mean that the Post Offico revealed to the Revenue that telegrams were being sent ?—I do not know.

r—Tatler. - The Judge, in upholding (he appeal, said: • " Mr. Graham was in the habit of betting i on horses at starting prices. He did it ■ on a large and sustained scale, and did I it with such shrewdness that he made an > income out of it, and it was found that substantially it was his means of living. Ihercfore he has been assessed to income • tax in respect of those emoluments. j " A bet is an irrational agreement that I a person should pay another person some- • thing on the happening of an event. There is no relevance between the event and tho transfer or acquisition of the property. " It is said by the Revenue that Mr. Graham, bv betting continually with great shrewdness and good results, has set up a vocation. The contention is one that might have very startling results. because a loss in a vocation or trade could be set off against profits, and a man eafning profits in some recognised form of industry, but having the bad habit of betting systematically with bookmakers, might set off his losses against the profits for income tax purposes—a very remarkable. result, and one, I am afraid, with a very wide application. " There are allowances to a man for ' his family and dependants, and we might 1 be threatened with a further allowance in • respect of losses he made by habitually , betting. "It sounds remarkable, because it would entitle a person who wasted his earnings on betting to make the State ' a partner in his gambling. The question has to be, faced, but I do not. think that Mr. Graham can be said to organise his 1 efforts in tho same way that a bookmaker i organises his efforts. In effect, all he is doing is just -what a man does who is a skilful player of cards."