Revenue 97
included in this item are taxes levied on gambling and
betting stakes for horse races, football pools, lotteries,
and so forth. Taxes on entry to casinos, races, etc. are
also classifi ed as taxes on specifi c services.
5.70 Th is category also includes the implicit taxes
resulting from the central bank imposing a rate of in-
terest other than the market rates. Th e central bank’s
main responsibility is to formulate and carry out mon-
etary policy as part of economic policy. It therefore
oft en acts diff erently than other fi nancial corporations
and generally has received the authority from govern-
ment to impose its policies. In cases where the central
bank uses its special powers to set interest rates that
are out of line with market rates, the diff erence gives
rise to an implicit tax and subsidy (see paragraph 6.89
and Box 6.2 for an illustration of recording these im-
plicit taxes and subsidies). Th is procedure is analo-
gous to and consistent with the practice of treating the
diff erence between the market exchange rate and an
alternative exchange rate imposed by the central bank
as an implicit tax or subsidy (see paragraph 5.89).
5.71 Th is category does not include:- Taxes that are included in general taxes on goods
and services (1141) - Taxes on individual gains from football pools or
other gambling proceeds, classifi ed in taxes on
income, profi ts, and capital gains (111) - Profi ts transferred to government from state lot-
teries and other gambling enterprises regarded
as profi ts of fi scal monopolies (1143), dividends
(1412), or withdrawals of income from quasi-cor-
porations (1413) - Taxes on checks and on the issue, transfer, or re-
demption of securities, classifi ed as taxes on fi -
nancial and capital transactions (11414) - Stamp tax revenues that cannot be assigned to
taxes on services or other transactions, classifi ed
as other taxes (116) - Taxes on the use of utilities, such as water, elec-
tricity, gas, and energy, which are included under
excises (1142).
Taxes on use of goods and on permission to use goods or perform activities (1145)
5.72 Taxes on use of goods and on permission to
use goods or perform activities (1145) are fees levied
for the issuance of a license or permit that are not
commensurate with the cost of the control function
of government. Th ere are cases where the government
provides something to the individual unit directly
in return for a payment in the form of the granting
of a permit or authorization. In such instances, the
payment is part of a mandatory process that ensures
proper recognition of ownership or ensures that activ-
ities are performed under the authorization of the law.
Th e boundary between when such payments are to be
recorded as a tax and when they are to be recorded
as the sale of a service or as the sale of an asset by the
government requires additional guidance.Boundary with administrative fees
5.73 One of the regulatory functions of govern-
ments is to prohibit the ownership or use of certain
goods or the pursuit of certain activities, unless specifi c
permission is granted by issuing a license or other cer-
tifi cate for which a fee is demanded. To decide whether
such a fee constitutes this tax category or administra-
tive fees (1422), the following recommendations apply:- Th e payment is recorded as a tax when a license
or a permit is automatically granted by the gov-
ernment as a mandatory condition to perform an
activity or acquire an asset. Th e government unit
performs little or no work other than a minimum
control of the legal capacity of the acquirer to re-
ceive the permit (e.g., to confi rm the applicant has
not been convicted of a crime). Th e payment of
the fee in such a case is not commensurate with the
control function that the government exercises. - Th e payment is recorded as the sale of a service
when, for instance, issuing the license or permit
involves a proper regulatory function of the gov-
ernment by exercising control on the activity,
checking the competence or qualifi cations of the
persons concerned, etc. In such a case, the pay-
ment is taken to be proportional to the costs of
producing the service for all or any of the enti-
ties benefi ting from the services and is borne by
those benefi ting. Th e payment is recorded as a
tax only if it is out of proportion to the costs of
producing the services.
5.74 More specifi cally, the following types of fees
are considered taxes: - Fees where the payer of the levy is not the re-
ceiver of the benefi t, such as a fee collected from