The chief issue of detail .about the coming Budget is
the proposed tax on Betting. Mr. Stanley Baldwin is said to favour it, but opposition is feared from religious bodies. As we have already said, we .can see absolutely no objection to the principle of the tax. It is but hypocrisy to pretend that the taxation of a nation-wide practice necessarily means State -encouragement for it. There are only two possible policies with regard to 'Betting. One is rigorously to suppress. No one 'believes that possible. The . other is not to pretend that -it does not exist, "but to make it contribute to the national purse and also to mitigate its evils by regulation. Mr. Stanley Baldwin -is said-to hold out hope -of Income-tax reduction if the Betting-tax, with -an -estimated yield of 'between t10,000;000 and £20,000,000, is allowed to .go through.
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