asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been directed to Press reports of the recent annual meeting of An Taisce, in which it was suggested (a) that expenditure on works of art should be exempt from tax: (b) that expenditure on the repair of buildings, which were the subject of a preservation Order, should be free of tax, and (c) that gifts for the public good should, to a limited extent, be exempt from income-tax and death duties; and, if so, if he will indicate the extent to which he is prepared to afford such suggestions appropriate implementation if necessary by the introduction of proposals for legislation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - An Taisce.
The answer to the first part of the question is yes. As regards the second part, the newspaper report is doubtless a summarised one and it is difficult to gather the precise nature of the suggestions and therefore difficult to comment upon them. Suggestion (a) in the first part of the Deputy's question may mean that a wealthy taxpayer who purchases works of art out of his surplus income or who spends money in the preservation of works of art should get, for income-tax purposes, a deduction from his income of an amount equal to the amount so expended. If so, it is scarcely a suggestion that commends itself. As for suggestion (b), I should like to point out that in arriving at the valuation, to which the taxation of buildings is related, an allowance must, under the Valuation Act, be made for the probable average annual cost of repairs, etc., necessary to maintainthe property. As regards (c), there would be serious objections to any proposal to enact that, when a taxpayer subscribed money for the public good, he should automatically be entitled, in connection with income-tax, to claim a corresponding deduction from his income. So far as death duties are concerned the Deputy will be interested to know that, under existing law, gifts inter vivosmade for “public or charitable purposes” more than 12 months before death are exempt from estate duty and that gifts by will for charitable purposes in Ireland are exempt from legacy or succession duty. There is also, subject to the provisions of the statute, a general exemption from death duties in respect of such “pictures, prints, books, manuscripts, works of art, scientific collections or other things not yielding income” as appear to the Minister for Finance to be of national, scientific, historic or artistic interest.
May I point out to the Minister that the suggestions contained in the question did not emanate from me but from responsible members of a responsible body, An Taisce, and that they appear to be meritorious and well-intentioned and might receive more sympathetic attention than they have received?
The Deputy will notice that in the reply I admitted that these suggestions came from a responsible body and from a responsible Deputy, and that is the reason I gave him such a long explanation of the state of the law and the Government's attitude towards it.