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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 10 Jun 1941

Vol. 83 No. 13

Committee on Finance. - Additional Financial Resolution, 1941-42—(Duty on Bets).

The House may remember that, in discussing my statement on the Budget, certain Deputies made the suggestion that the proposed tax on bets on the course might be one which it would be worth while reconsidering. I have reconsidered it, and met deputations interested in the matter. As a result, I have decided to make a change. It is on that account that I move this additional Financial Resolution, which is as follows:—

(1) That the duty on bets imposed by Section 24 of the Finance Act, 1926 (No. 35 of 1926), shall (subject and without prejudice to the provisions of Section 20 of the Finance Act, 1931 (No. 31 of 1931)) be charged, levied, and paid on bets entered into on or after the 1st day of July, 1941, at the rate of 7½ per cent. of the amount of the bet in lieu of the rate of 5 per cent. mentioned in the said section 24.

(2) It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1927 (No. 7 of 1927).

This Resolution provides in effect that where the excise duty on bets is now charged at 5 per cent., it shall be increased to 7½ per cent. as from the 1st of July, 1941, inclusive. Section 24 of the Finance Act, 1926, imposed an excise duty of 2½ per cent. on every bet entered into by a bookmaker at a racecourse or a greyhound coursing ground in respect of an event to be decided thereat. The rate of duty on bets entered into by bookmakers in any other circumstances (e.g., in a registered bookmaking office or at a regatta) was fixed at 5 per cent. Section 20 of the Finance Act, 1931, repealed as from the 1st of August, 1931, the duty on bets, where such duty had been chargeable at the 2½ per cent. rate. The 5 per cent. duty on bets entered into in registered bookmaking offices, etc., continued to be chargeable. It is now proposed to increase this 5 per cent. rate to 7½ per cent.

The original Budget proposals for a duty of 2½ per cent. on course betting and a duty of 2½ per cent. on sums staked on the totalisator have been dropped, following convincing representations made by the course bookmakers and the Board of Control for Mechanical Betting, respectively. These duties were estimated to bring in £33,000 in the year 1941-2. Under a new arrangement, the Totalisator Control Board will pay me a certain percentage of the net profit on the operations of the totalisator, and between that and the addition of 2½ per cent. on office betting, I expect to get in £25,000 in the current year and £38,000 in a full year.

Could the Minister say how much of the £25,000 is ascribable to the increase of 2½ per cent. on office bets and how much to the new arrangement with the Totalisator Board?

I shall have the figures for the Deputy later, but practically all of it will come from bets.

Question put and agreed to.
Resolution reported and agreed to.
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