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REFLECTIONS By Nelson Dunsian Letters Protesting Racings Taxation Fear Sport Will Be Taxed to Death Many Lipiec Circulars to Our Desk Complaint Against Parking Attendants NEW YORK, N. Y June 22. During the past two weeks, many letters have come to this office in protest of the 5 per cent tax and, surprisingly enough, quite a few of them are from Albany, Saratoga Springs and other upstate towns. Many of them are written in a bitter vein against racing officials for not uttering a stronger protest against this unfair taxation and also against politicians who have the right to ask a racing tax, but who carefully avoid other industries that would given them a real fight. An Albany lawyer write, "I believe the action of the Board of Supervisors of Saratoga County is one of the most outrageous pieces of taxation ever imposed in this country. Recently, you stated that an enraged owner of horses wanted to start a petition to cancel the Saratoga meeting upstate and run it in New York. Unfortunately, that would not relieve the situation as the 5 per cent tax would be enforced there also. I have often heard Saratogans say they would not miss racing in that town. Yet, last year they yelled to the high heavens when the New York State Racing Commission ordered that it be run at Belmont Park. Mark my word, if this tax is not done away with entirely, August racing in New York State during 1947 will be run someT where on Long Island. J. JZ. LeBIanc, of Springfield, Mass., says T happen to be one of those who have kept the sport going for many years through my bets. I am just a small bettor, but I am undecided whether or not to discontinue my play entirely. As I look into this matter of racing taxation, I am getting madder and madder. I find myself in the role of a businessman who is being gradually being taxed out of business and with no fair treatment whatever from my duly elected representatives. What I fail to understand is the heavy taxation on racing and a million and one luxury undertakings going off scot free. In New York, if I am correct, about all that Mayor ODwyer did was place some sort of a tax on the use of hotel rooms. Racing may survive this new form of taxation, but you are certainly correct when you maintain that, in time, the sport must deteriorate. Governor Dewey must have signed this bill without realizing that, in time, he was going to depreciate the states income from a sport that has served New York State well." From H. B. Durie, of the Binghamton State Hospital, Bing-hamton, New York, we have this letter: "Enclosed you will find a circular that was sent me, supposedly, by Stanley Lipiec who, at one time, trained a large stable very successfully. Somehow, I cannot see a former trainer in this kind of business. I think that Stanley Lipiec got a raw deal in Florida last winter, but I cant tie this to him. I wonder if someone isnt trying to cash in on his former reputation and would greatly appreciate, in confidence, any comment you might care to make regarding this circular." There is no reason for me to write any one "in confidence" regarding Stanley Lipiec. Some time ago, I wrote a column regarding him after he had come to my office and given me the details of his case. Two days after that column was printed, I learned through circulars that were sent to me that he had entered the sol-called field of turf information. I then asked him to call at my office again and when I asked him about these circulars, he told me that he was so upset he hardly realized what, he was doing, but that he was now actually engaged in that profession. I have no desire to kick a man when he is down, but I feel I should print this information in view of the column I wrote regarding Lipiec. A. B. Crabtree, who is connected with the Chicago Office of the United States Department of Justice, has two complaints against Lincoln Fields. He says, "on arriving at Hawthorne on the last day of the Lincoln Fields meeting, I was confronted by a bevy of hustlers who are politely known as parking lot attendants. In years past, the price there has always been 25 cents and this has always been a gratuity. When I inquired why the price had been raised to 50 cents, the attendant, through a three days growth of beard, told me I could either pay it or get off the lot. Then, when I waited until late in the day to cash a ticket, I was told in no uncetrain terms and in front of the friends with me that tickets should be cashed after each race. It was the manner in which the man spoke to me that I objected to. For 20 years I have been an average racing fan. Racing needs me, and those like me, but a little more of that and Ill be going to a ball game instead of a race track on a Saturday afternoon." W. B. of Westbury, Long Island, writes, "I was very gratified to read your recent statements in defense of steeplechasing. Last fall, when that scandal was exposed, at Pimlico, you were bitter against the jockeys and also against steeplechasing. Apparently, you now realize that the people of steeplechasing are endeavoring to conduct the sport with rigid honesty. Therefore, I want to say that I thank you for being big enough to change your mind under the circumstances. At the present time, I have only one jumper, but, at all times, I get a thrill watching those who belong to others. Like many people, I attend flat races only where steeplechasing events are part of the days card and I believe, with you, that a steeplechase race adds to the color of what is often little more than monotony when three or four races at six furlongs are run in succession. This year, both hurdling and steeplechasing have been of a high order and I am hoping you will continue to support it as you have recently."
