I move:—
"That the Dáil agree with the Committee in Resolution No. 14."
The principal effect of this resolution is to make it clear that the value of property shall be taken as the value at the time that the successor comes into it—when it is actually acquired—and not the value at the time when the original Will was made in virtue of which the succession took place. That, according to certain practices, cuts both ways. The existing arrangement and practice, on which a certain doubt has been thrown by a decision of a British Court, is the fairest one. It sometimes may benefit the Exchequer and sometimes the taxpayer. For instance in recent cases it will benefit the taxpayer. If a person died, say, in 1919 and left a farm of land to his mother for life and afterwards to his brother under the arrangement that existed heretofore, and under the arrangement which we want to put beyond doubt, by this resolution, if succession duty was being paid now it would be paid on the value of the land, at the present time, and not on the value of the land in 1919, which was the peak year. In that case it would operate to the advantage of the taxpayer. If, however, the original Will were made earlier, say in 1914, and a succession occurred under it, at the present time, the land would be valued at the present value which is greater than 1914.
