§ Mr. Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why a 10 per cent. Pool Betting Duty is charged on bets with greyhound racetrack totalisators and yet no tax is charged on similar bets on totalisators on horse racecourses; and whether in his forthcoming Budget he will take steps to alter this discrimination by placing greyhound racing on the same basis as horse racing for tax purposes.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftThis question appears to be of a budgetary character unsuitable for answer at the present time.
§ Mr. Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much he estimates the present 10 per cent. tax on totalisators at greyhound race tracks could be reduced if instead a flat rate tax on all bets on totalisators at greyhound tracks and horse race tracks were introduced, to ensure the same return in revenue to the Treasury as that received in the last financial year from the present 10 per cent. duty on totalisators at greyhound race tracks; and whether he will consider adopting this suggestion in his forthcoming Budget.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftI cannot give such an estimate since it is not possible to say how far a duty on totalisator bets at horse racecourses would result in a switch to betting with bookmakers, but the reduction would clearly be small. As to the second part of the Question, I cannot anticipate my Budget statement.