13 FEBRUARY 1909, Page 15


or THAI "Srsor►TOR."] Sin,—If, as seems certain, large additional revenue will have to be raised during the incoming and succeeding years, there are two subjects of taxation which might be expected to pro- duce a few millions, and (if money is to be raised) seem fairly free from objection. They both have at any rate the merit of a pretty general incidence on all classes, and of being com- paratively inexpensive and easy in collection, The first is a tax on the huge and ever-increasing travelling public. A tax upon railway tickets has long been common on the Continent, and is known to produce large sums. Tickets under sixpence might, having regard to the large percentage of the cost of such a ticket which would be represented by even the smallest tax, be fairly exempted from the impost. Above that figure the tax might be a graduated one of (say) a halfpenny up to two shillings, a penny up to ten shillings, and so on to a maximum of threepence, or even sixpence, in respect of long railway journeys. A season ticket might be treated as a " capital value," and taxed accordingly. The railway companies would be the collectors, and be responsible for the payment to the Government at stated intervals. The other tax I refer to would be a tax on amusements. A small impost on all sums paid by way of gate-money at race-meetings, football and cricket matches, and the like would furnish a respectable sum, and it would at least be satisfactory to feel that the fifty thousand adult males who watched a football match at the Crystal Palace in "Black Week," if they were not serving, their country in

person, would, if such a tax were imposed, at least be con- tributing to its support out of their purses.—I am, Sir, &c.,


[We cannot think a railway tax would be fair or wise, but for a " gate-money " tax there is a great deal to be said. We fear, however, that it would only produce thousands, whereas it is millions that are required.—ED. Spectator.]