asked the Minister for Agriculture if it is proposed by special tax, excess profits duty, fine or otherwise, to recover the whole or any part of the excessive profits taken by bacon curers in the period 1934-1937.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Bacon Curers' Profits.
Existing legislation provides for taxation on the profits of bacon curers and it is not proposed to introduce additional legislation for the purpose.
Is it proposed to do anything to recover those sums which the Prices Commission reported the bacon curers collected from the consumers of this country over and above a fair margin of profit, or are they going to be allowed to get away with what the Prices Commission described as the excessive charges which they made for bacon?
There is no special legislation proposed to deal with it.
And are we to understand that the Minister proposes to do nothing to get back from the bacon curers that which they took improperly from the consumers, or any part of the hypothetical price fund which the Commission reported had been appropriated by the bacon curers without any proper accounting?
Whatever profits the bacon curers may have made in the past, they are being dealt with in the ordinary way by means of Corporation Profits Tax, but no further action is proposed.
Will the Minister require the bacon curers to produce to him their profit and loss accounts and their balance sheets for the years referred to in this question, so that he may determine whether any improper profits have been concealed by accountancy expedients, and so as to free the curers from making their full contribution under Excess Profits Duty or Corporation Profits Tax?
I take it the Prices Commission had very full powers to investigate all the balance sheets, and so on. Of course, neither I, any other Minister, nor anybody excepting the Revenue Commissioners, have any authority to examine their balance sheets further.
Will the Minister do this? Will he advise the Agricultural Commission, which is at present examining into the question of pig and bacon production, to call on the bacon curers to produce to them their profit and loss accounts and their balance sheets, so that these figures may be borne in mind when the Agricultural Commission is making its recommendations with regard to profits?
I would not like to advise the commission in any way. It is better to leave them to follow whatever course they may think best. We may presume that they have examined the Prices Commission's report and they will make up their minds on the matter.
Does the Minister not think that before the Agricultural Commission makes recommendations in regard to the matters referred to here, that the balance sheets and the profit and loss accounts of the curers ought to be examined with a view to determining what has been the measure of the excess profits during the past four or five years and what are the best steps to prevent a recurrence?
It would be better to leave it to themselves to decide.
If the Minister were on the commission, would he ask to see those accounts—the balance sheets and the profit and loss accounts?
Hypothetical questions should not be asked, nor may Ministers be requested for an expression of opinion.
I would be pleased to take the summary given to the Minister by the Prices Commission.
Would you not like to see the accounts?