CO129-515-3 Tobacco (Amendment) Ordinance- 1929 28-1-1929 - 11-3-1929 — Page 51

BRITISH-AMERICAN TÒBACCÓ CÓMPANY, LIMITED.

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The Secretary of State for the Colonies.

57

28. 1. 29.

important for the Revenue Authorities to be in a position to

satisfy themselves easily that all Companies were making true

declarations of value. This could be ensured by a provision

that every Company must publish monthly a wholesale duty-paid

Price List. The formula for the assessment of duty would be

quite simple, and somewhat as follows:-

"The duty of 40% is payable on the cost to the

producer plus profits but not on expenses of

selling, for which an allowance of 5% will be

made. In order to arrive at the dutiable value

of a brand, the published Price List (which will

necessarily include cost plus duty plus selling

expenses plus profit) will be divided by 1.45. "

As an example if the List Price of a brand is

published as $747.50 per Case of 50,000, the "in-bond" value

will be $515.52, and the duty $206.21. Any attempt at manipulation

of prices would be readily detected on the market.

We do not recommend the introduction of the division of

brands into seven grades, as is done in China - a process which

appears to us to introduce unnecessary complications both for the

revenue authorities and the manufacturer.