BETTING TAX NOT FAILURE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16474, 19 October 1927, Page 3

BETTING TAX NOT FAILURE

, BOOKMAKERS' "ALARM" UNFOUNDED. The betting tax law v i« England has not had a fair U'ial and must run "throughout u full,flat-racing season before it can be prouounced a failure, Mr. Churchill told the ■ House of Copmions recently. EvenJ he contended, if it realised a lower siriii than anticipated, that sum was a necessary contribution to the country's revenue, and it was about the cheapest money the exchequer received. Bookmakers had' done theii utmost to alarm people,about the working of the tax. Nevertheless, he gathered that a great many, of them had not found any reason to retire from the profession. One must really judge by what theso people said .about themselves, the Chancellor told the House of Commons. For instance, one of the bookmakers advertised: "Our clients'won upward of £IOO,OOO from us oyer the Derby. Our winning vouchers, like bank notes, were redeemed immediately. , Our resources enable us to cheerfully meet all obligations." A more remarkable advertisement was funn'shed by one who gave evidence before the committee and predicted that tjie imposition of the tax would mean the complete ruin of the business which he conducted. This man, the Chancellor told the Commons, subsequently advertised: "All records broken. On Derby day we had the biggest turnover since we started business 37 years ago."