RACING TAXES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18554, 29 April 1930, Page 6

RACING TAXES

MR POLSON CORRECTED. 9 By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLINGTON, April 28. Mr W. J. Poison, in an address delivered at Invercargill, proposed amongst other things that the totalisator tax should be increased from 5 to 7 per cent. The New Zealand Sports Protection League points out that the totalisator tax is already 10 per cent, in addition to which thdre is a tax of 5 per cent on dividends and 5 per cent on stakes. By these special and distinctive formu the State receives in round figures more than half a million pounds per annum. This is really more than the sport can bear, says the League in a statement, and any attempt to increase the rate would have the effect of depreciating the State revenue rather than increasing it. Clubs, which are gratuitous taxcollectors for the Government, would in many cases be seriously crippled, and in some cases their very existence threatened. The last increase, states the League, was imposed in 1921, and accepted by racing authorities to assist in post-war financial difficulties as a temporary measure, but it was made permanent in 1924. The effect of such increase has been to provide the State with very little additional revenue, while the | revenue of Clubs has fallen by about | £200,000 per annum. This has necessitated an all-round reduction in stakes, | course improvements, and public i improvements, and public facilities. Smaller clubs are all struggling for | their existence. If Mr Poison desires j more revenue for the State, he should ! move to give the right to those who ! are unable to attend the course to ; make their investments through legal ! channels, instead of giving monopoly | of this business to those who defy the {law.