Page 2754 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 14 August 1990
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discretion within the Act that raises this money, the Business Franchise "X" Videos Act. He may determine a number of factors, and throughout the course of the year the commissioner may well determine various factors relating to the collection of the tax which will affect the final year's outcome.
However, given Mr Stevenson's almost myopic preoccupation with X-rated videos, I can give an undertaking to provide him with the amount of revenue that has been collected so far this financial year, but I must point out that the quite legitimate businesses that run X-rated businesses here in the ACT have taken the quite legitimate and legal steps that are available to any other businesses to minimise their payments of fees and taxes to the Government. They knew in advance that the Bill was coming into place on 1 July this year, so in many cases they bought large amounts of stock prior to 30 June. Of course, seeing that the tax is based on a wholesale basis, those particular purchases do not fall within the ambit of the Act and as such are not liable for franchise duties.
So, the figures that I will provide will not be indicative of the amount that should be raised from the business franchise tax in a full financial year of a normal financial year, and I would like to point that out. But I shall make those figures available to Mr Stevenson.
Education
MR BERRY: I would like to refer the Minister for Education to the Bulletin, dated 5 June 1990, and a statement made by the ACT's then Chief Education Officer, Mr Eric Willmot, where he said:
The ACT is a lighthouse. We can take risks. If we make an error here, it's easy to back off it.
Will the Minister back off it when it has been identified that he has made a mistake?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Berry well knows that hypothetical questions are outlawed by standing orders. Since I do not plan to make mistakes, I do not think I need to answer the question. However, should the rare occurrence take place where I do make a mistake, I would be very happy to admit that I had made a mistake and to back off it. I am not convinced that any mistake has yet been made in respect of this debate.
Mr Berry: I have a supplementary question. Does the Minister agree with his education officer, Mr Willmot, that:
The ACT is a lighthouse. We can take risks. If we make an error here, it's easy to back off it.
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