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Michigan House Group Reports Out Bill to Increase Mutuel Tax to 13 Pet. ; i i I Amended Measure Divides t ► Additional 1 Pet. Between ■ Running J Tracks and State a Special to Daily Racing Form b LANSING, Mich., May 14.— Over the ob- f jections of racing commissioner James H. 1: Inglis, the State Affairs Committee of e the Michigan House of Representatives re- c ported out the Minnema Bill to increase ■ the tax on pari-mutuel betting. c The bill, which had been in committee a for nearly six weeks, was approved in a different version than the one which the r State Senate had passed in March. c Originally, Senator John Minnema, c Traverse City Republican, proposed to increase the pari-mutuel take from 12 to 1 12 12 per cent with the additional revenue t going to county fairs and thoroughbred « breeders awards. In the House committee * a the bill was amended to raise the takeout t from 12 to 13 per cent with the state and the thoroughbred tracks splitting the money. £ Based upon 1956 figures, this would J mean about 25,000 in additional revenue J for the state, while the Hazel Park Racing 1 Association and the Michigan Racing Association would get more than 00,000 i each. Of this sum, the tracks would be re- i quired to turn over nearly 00,000 to i horsemen in purses under an agreement with the HBPA. | In 1956 fhe State of Michigan realized I ,534,306 from both thoroughbred and 1 harness racing for an all-time record. I "I was opposed to the bill when it proposed to take an extra one-half per cent I from the public and I am doubly opposed i to the new version which would take a full I percentage point." The commissioner pointed to figures he i had compiled showing that thoroughbred I fans in Michigan are being taxed "at least I ► ■ a b f 1: e c ■ c a r c c 1 t « * a t £ J J 1 i i i | I 1 I I i I i I I _ i five times as much as the person who consumes alcoholic beverages. "The Minnema Bill," he went on, "would add approximately 33,000 a year to the burden of the already overtaxed racing fans . . . The fans who patronize the six licensed pari-mutuel race meetings held each summer in southeastern Michigan are comparatively a small group of people and they are already carrying by far the heaviest tax load of any group of sports fans or any group of consumers in the state. "Compare the ,534,306 in pari-mutuel racing tax revenue . . . with the 5,000,000 contributed to the state by the persons who consume beer, wine and liquor. "It seems unfair to put an additional tax load on the already overtaxed thoroughbred fan when nearly half the funds to be raised by this tax are to be earmarked for purpose that is entirely unrelated to thoroughbred racing." Inglis referred here to the fact that some of the states share of the increase would go for capital improvements at county fairs which do not have harness racing. A year ago a bill was passed to provide money for fairs with harness racing. In conclusion, the commissioner noted that "any increases in the state pari-mutuel tax results in more revenue to the illegal bookmakers than to the state treasury . . . Suppression of illegal bookmaking is difficult enough under present conditions without making it even more difficult by increasing the revenues and profits of the illegal bookmakers." In Detroit Inglis reiterated his opposition to any increase in the state tax on pari-mutuel betting at the thoroughbred or harness tracks. *T thought this bill wouldnt get out of committee," said Inglis after he heard that , the House of Representatives would consider the revised Minnema Bill.
