I move:—
That it is expedient that legislation be enacted to make provision for the imposition of income-tax and surtax and the imposition, continuance, variation, and termination of duties of customs or excise where the imposition, continuance, variation, or termination (as the case may be) of those taxes and duties in the manner at present provided by law is prevented by the action of the armed forces of another country.
The Taxes and Duties (Special Circumstances) Bill, 1942, is founded on this motion, and it is usual in such cases to have one debate on the financial motion and the Second Stage of the Bill. The Bill envisages a contingency, or a situation, that I hope will never arise. I hope the Bill will never have to be operated, but it is necessary to face the possibility that at some time during the present emergency the sittings of the Oireachtas might be temporarily interrupted by the action of the armed forces of another country. If this interruption took place in any year between the 6th April and the passing of the Finance Bill into law, the finances of the country might be thrown into very grave confusion, and the Bill is meant to deal with that situation.
As to the sections, Section 1 is a definition section. Sections 2 and 3 deal with income-tax, including surtax. As Deputies are aware, income-tax is a temporary tax which in the ordinary way ceases to be in force on the 5th of April each year. The Finance Bill for the ensuing financial year is not usually passed into law until some months later. There are certain special provisions for the bridging of this gap. During the two months immediately following the 5th of April certain things are authorised to be done, such as the service of forms on taxpayers and the deduction of tax at the rate in force for the preceding year from payments of interest, rents, etc. In order to validate these things, however, and to bridge in other respects the period which must elapse before the Bill becomes law, certain steps must be taken by the Oireachtas. Deputies are, I think, familiar with these steps. If any of these steps are not taken in time the Finance Bill lapses.
Section 2 of the Bill deals with the position which would arise if, owing to enemy action, the Committee on Finance was unable to meet within the specified period of two months to consider and deal with the usual Resolution. It provides that in such a case on the making of a declaration by the Taoiseach in the terms prescribed in the Bill income-tax and surtax for the year shall, by virtue of the legislation now before the House, be charged at the rates in force for the preceding year and that the income-tax code in force on the preceding 5th of April shall continue to have effect.
Section 3 of the Bill deals with the position which would arise if the interruption in the sittings of the Oireachtas as a consequence of enemy action took place at some time after the passing of the Income Tax Resolution by the Committee on Finance but before some one of the other necessary steps already outlined could be taken. It provides that on the making by the Taoiseach of the prescribed declaration and on his reciting the Resolution with any modification made in it after it has been passed by the Committee on Finance the Resolution so recited shall have statutory effect as if contained in an Act of the Oireachtas until such statutory effect is either confirmed (with or without modification) or terminated by the Oireachtas.
Section 4 deals with duties of customs and excise. These duties are permanent taxes and the operation of the section is, accordingly, limited to the case in which such a duty has been imposed, varied or terminated by a Resolution passed by the Committee on Finance and having statutory effect by virtue of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1927. In such a case the Resolution becomes effective at once and business is done by importers, traders, etc., on the basis that a duty imposed by the Resolution is in force or, as the case may be, that an existing duty has been varied or terminated.
Section 5 is designed to meet the position which would arise if the sittings of the Oireachtas were interrupted by enemy action within eight months after the making of an Order under Section 1 of the Emergency Imposition of Duties Act, 1932, and before such Order is confirmed by legislation. As Deputies are aware, such an Order, assuming it has not been revoked by a subsequent Order, ceases to have effect unless a Bill containing provisions confirming it is passed by the Oireachtas within a period of eight months from the making of the Order. The section provides that if, as a result of enemy action, the sittings of the Oireachtas are interrupted during that period it shall be lawful for the Taoiseach to make a declaration in the prescribed form reciting the Order and that the Order so recited shall continue to have statutory effect until such statutory effect is either confirmed or terminated by an Act of the Oireachtas.
Section 6 has reference to the provisions of Section 211 of the Income Tax Act, 1918. This section relates to cases in which, during an income-tax year, half-yearly or quarterly payments have been made on account of interest, dividends or rents prior to the passing of the Finance Act, and the tax charged thereon or deducted therefrom has not been charged or deducted at the rate of tax ultimately imposed for the year, and prescribes what is to be done. Section 6 merely adapts the 1918 section so as to bring it into accord with the position which would arise if the provisions of the Bill before the House became operative.
Section 7 adapts the provisions of Section 6 of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act. This latter section relates to deductions of tax made during the first two months of the income-tax year, and provides for the repaying or making good, in whole or in part, of such deduction if one or other of the steps which have been outlined in connection with Section 2 are not taken by the Oireachtas within the prescribed time, or if a rate of tax lower than the rate specified in the original Resolution were ultimately imposed. The provisions of Section 6 of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act are adapted so as to bring them into accord with the position as it would be if the provisions of the Bill now before the House became operative. Sections 8, 9 and 10 are self-explanatory.