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PRESS TICKETS-BACK TAXES Chicago Tracks Billed for Various Amounts for Past Seasons. Illinois Racing Commission and Finance Department, Internal Revenue Bureau and Track Owners Meet. The Illinois Racing Commission, Internal Revenue Bureau, Illinois Department of Finance and Chicago track owners will meet again Monday morning at 10 a. m. in the Finance Departments offices at Clark and Madison streets to continue their discussion of who should receive tax-exempt tickets to j the Chicago tracks and how many such | tickets the tracks should be allowed to issue. The meeting will be a continuation of the session of Friday afternoon. Among those present at the Friday meeting were Leo Spitz, chairman, Walter Peacock, member, and George Foster, secretary of the racing commission; H. A. Robertson and A. C. Nagle, state finance department; J. Harrigan and N. D. Campbell, internal revenue bureau, and Charles Kriede. assistant attorney general. Col. M. J. Winn and Maurice Galvin represented Lincoln Fields; Ben Lindheimer, Washington Park; Chas. Krutckoff, Hawthorne; Maurice Marwick and Fred Radtke, Arlington Park; Thomas D. Nash and W. Bennett, Sportsmans Park, and D. C. Burnett, Aurora and Fairmount Park. CHALLENGE RULES. The commissions new rules on minimum weight and accrued money from canceled races was challenged by several of the track owners, who pointed out that they may work hardships on the tracks in their efforts to attract horses to the Chicago tracks in these I days of fierce competition for racing material. The main subject at hand, however, was the finance departments claims against the tracks for amounts ranging from approximately 00 up to 2,000 in admission taxes j which the department claims is due from an excess number of tax-exempt tickets issued and used from 1934 to 1937. Also under discussion was the number of press tickets each track should be allowed to issue to newspapers. The finance departments contention is that a total of thirty press admissions per day, covering all newspapers, news agencies, | radio stations, neighborhood newspapers, | photograph agencies and other similar medi-j urns of publicity should cover the needs of the tracks. INSTIGATOR UNKNOWN. Attorney General Kerners interpretation , of the statutes did not exempt press tickets from state and government taxes, but the Illinois Racing Commission adopted a rule I this spring placing the press in the tax-exempt category. Attempts by newspapermen to learn the I identity of the instigator of the move to I limit press admissions were futile. Just j where jurisdiction in the matter rests is also ; in question. Why the finance department ; placed an arbitrary figure of thirty press j admissions per day as sufficient to cover the tracks needs is another matter of speculation. Chairman Spitz, who presided at the meet-l , ing, appeared to hold the opinion that the press ticket situation had not been abused, ; and Internal Revenue Agent Campbell stated that his bureau had never had occasion to j question the use of press tickets. He said the bureau believed fifteen tickets per paper was ample. Colonel Winn was asked about press admissions to Churchill Downs for Kentucky Derby Day and brought a smile to the faces of those present when he explained the enormous number found necessary to cover the I Derby. Regarding the new weight rule recom-, mended and adopted by the Illinois Racing j Commission, with a minimum of 103 pounds, j Chairman Spitz asked the track owners to i give the rule a fair trial. Then, if not satisfactory, the matter should be brought before the commission again. FOUR-HORSE RACES. Before a race can be canceled it must be j scratched down to three horses, but if four | horses racing under separate ownership remain in, then the race must be run. A pro-I posal to make it optional with the track I managements whether or not to run a four-I horse race was advanced. Claims for back taxes during the years mentioned above is being fought by the j tracks on the grounds that the manage-, ments attention should have been called to the matter years ago. The managements assumed they were complying with the law, otherwise they would have remedied matters some years back.
