RACING TAXATION

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 17, 15 August 1928, Page 5

RACING TAXATION

SAID TO BE OPPRESSIVE MERELY A CATCH-CRY. STRATFORD CLUB'S VIEWS. Discussion at last night's meeting of the Stratford Racing Club showed that members have no sympathy witfi thje complaint, heard frequently m recent times, that the. Government taxation on racing j 8 oppressive. The president (Mr S. Pitt) sa id that there was an outcry from many flubs at present regarding the taxation which had to be paid, the opinion being expressed that the taxation was ruining clubs. He, however," in tended to take up an opposite attitude- Lopking ,atj then- blatance- ! sheet, members of the Stratford! Club could not say that it was ruining their dub. He felt sure that

on investigation they would find that the clubs were not being strangled , Since 1910 the Government had taken 7* per cent, of the totalisator turnover, and the club 2* per cent. The 5 per cent, tax on the dividend was paid by those who were lucky enough to strike a winner, and these people did not notice the impost. The Government took 5 per cent, from the stakes. This was previously 10 per cent. But it must be remembered that stakes were higher now than they were ten 1 years ago. Mr J. Fredric: And so are expenses.

Mr Pitt said that so far as the clubs were concerned the taxation could not be held to be so oppressive as was alleged. It seemed to him that the cliiblTwhich were compiSsjning were those which held meetings where they were not required. People paid twice as much taxation on their tobacco as they did on their racing and made no complaint. It seemed that the complaint about taxation was a catch-cry 'by clubs which were in a bad way from various causes —bad management, or/ racing in districts which could not support a meeting. He could not see that the Stratford Club was being detrimentally affected by the taxation.

Mr H. E. Abraham expressed agreement with the president's remarks. Nowadays, if anybody got into trouble of any sort it was 'the fashion t.o carry out against the Government. Th,is was what the clubs in a poor position were doing.

j M r A. Coleman said the general ' public and the horse-owners paid the bulk of the taxation. The catch-cry of the aggrieved clubs was a weak explanation of their bad financial position. In some cases the club's poverty arose from their racing in districts from which the population had drifted!—such as decayed gold digging districts. Such clubs insist? on keeping their permits, although running the meetings was not fcSl economic success.