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- Oct. 10, 1884
Dear British Tax Commissioner,
I received your letter yesterday advising that the amount of tax paid, in my report, by the Chinese businesses in Victoria last year does not conform to that in the report prepared by the tax officer. You asked me to check again and reply. My report was based on an on-site checking. I checked the accounts of each business one by one in Victoria. I assume that the inconformity is caused by different ways of account keeping. There were over 10 Chinese new businesses open since April 1884, their tax paid is included in my report, in which the financial year ends at August 1884. On the contrary, the financial year ends at the end of 1883 in the report prepared by the tax officer. I can provide some data for your further checking: When I was checking in Victoria, there were 11 businesses who were licensed for selling opium, each paying license fee $500, and 12 licensed for selling liquor, each paying license fee $50, totaling $6,100. The rest data can be reasoned out by analogy. You can ask the tax officer to check again at the end of 1884, and you shall find my report is true.
Yours sincerely
Huang Xi Quan
Attached is a translation of the letter by the British Tax Commissioner (received on Oct. 6, 1884)
On Aug.26, 1884 I received your tax report on Chinese businesses in Victoria. The tax paid includes license fee: $7,500, business tax $500, income tax $4,440, road tax $1,100, totaling $13,540. The tax report by the tax officer received on Aug.10, 1884 lists the following data: license fee $3,750, income tax $3,500, business tax $227, road tax $962, totaling $8,414. Please advise why there is inconformity in data of the two reports, and please provide proof if there is.
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