LOOKING FORWARD
By F R A N K C. PETRIN E, President and Publisher
A U T O M A T IC ACE
Senate Votes Tax Amendment
On September 4, the Defense Revenue Bill sec
tion pertaining to certain coin operated machines
was amended by the Senate as follows:
(1 ) $10 per year in the case of a device defined
as, “so-called ‘pinball’ and other similar amuse
ment machines.”
(2) $50 per year in the case of a device defined
as, “so-called ‘slot’ machines.”
The Senate’s revised Bill, including the above,
will be taken up in conference between House and
Senate committees, who can again revise the tax
schedule, and then the Bill agreed upon will be pre
sented to the House and Senate for a final vote, to
accept or reject the whole Bill.
Previously, on August 27, the Senate Finance
Committee had reduced the tax on pinball and
other similar amusement machines from $25 to
$10, and raised the gaming machines tax from $25
to $200.
Wanted: A Sure-Thing Crystal Ball
To keep the record straight, it is fitting to re
mind operators about what is going on in the trade
press on matters which concern them.
The free circulation or distribution Ops weekly
newspaper, in its issue of August 8, 1941 carried
the following headline in large type: “NO
CHANGE PREDICTED IN NEW FEDERAL
T A X ” The lead of the story said: “The House of
Representatives passed the new Federal Tax Bill
on August Uth. It ivill now go to the Senate. Based
on Ops’ own sources of governmental information,
as well as on usually reliable opinions from certain
members of this industry, we do not look for any
material change in the measure insofar as coin
operated machines are concerned.”
In view of the changes written in the tax bill
on August 27th, and again on September 4th—the
above quoted editorial may have been written for
one or all of the following reasons:
(1) Ops’ editor’s crystal ball played him wrong,
or the signals from the “sources of governmental
information” and “usually reliable opinions” got
mixed up.
(2) Lack of confidence in the delegated and ac
credited representatives of the industry, both
manufacturers’ and operators’ association officials,
to adequately present and plead its case for equit
able consideration.
(3)
A die-hard, persistent, obstinate belief that
“The new $10,000,000 Federal ‘use’ tax imposed
on operators and nobody knows much about it,”
and further that “The new Federal ‘use’ tax pro
posed on coin-operated machines certainly caught
this industry in one of its most flagrant comas of
complacent lassitude.” (These quotes are from
Ops’ July 18 issue.)
Again I repeat that manufacturers are capable
business men, that they have the interest of oper
ators in mind at all times because anything that
helps one helps the other, and anything that is a
hardship on one is a hardship on the other.
First to Report Industry’s Action
On this page in the August issue appeared the
first report that the industry’s accredited repre
sentatives were on the job, doing what could be
done, and looking after the interests of operators
as well as manufacturers, when hearings were held
in Washington relative to the 1941 Federal Tax
Bill.
I
point to this fact solely to make the point—of
which many readers of Automatic Age are well
aware, judging from the avalanche of letters re
ceived—that operators can depend on accurate
news in this monthly publication, and that opera
tors appreciate a studied, deliberated report of the
news and its significance, rather than a hodge
podge of hot-off-the-griddle spot news which
changes from day to day.
In scooping the industry’s trade press on this
important item, I am not unmindful of the splen
did cooperation and assistance received from
scores of operators, distributors, association offi
cials, and manufacturers. To these progressive
business men, I express my sincerest thanks.
When an industry is faced with a problem, the
first big step toward alleviating the effect of the
problem is to have confidence in the leadership of
those who are delegated representatives through
their appointment to association office, and to those
whose prominence in the industry entitles them to
be spokesmen for the industry.
AUTOMATIC AGE
6
© International Arcade Museum
September, 1941
http://www.arcade-museum.com/