Vol. 217 No. 10
I move amendment No. 41:
In page 33, line 59, to insert "together with an amount equal to the market value at the time of the acquisition of any fee farm rent, rentcharge, annuity or other annual payment reserved or charged upon the land" after "the interest".
This amendment is to include fee farm grants.
I give the Minister full credit for it.
I move amendment No. 42:
In page 35, between lines 28 and 29, to add the following proviso to section 43:
Provided that where—
(a) the profits or gains in respect of which a person is, under the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act, chargeable to tax under the said Case VI for any year of assessment are wholly profits or gains arising on a single transaction involving the disposal of an interest in land, and
(b) if that transaction were disregarded, the person would not fall to be treated as having carried on, at any time within three years prior to the transaction, a business of dealing in or developing land,
so much of those profits or gains as does not exceed one thousand five hundred pounds shall be disregarded.
I move amendment No. 44:
In page 47, line 53, to insert "as to its correctness" before "shall".
This is a drafting amendment.
I move amendment No. 45:
In page 51, between lines 48 and 49, to insert a new paragraph as follows:—
(v) the deletion in subsection (1) of "by one fiftieth of that amount for each complete period" and the substitution of "by such proportion thereof as is equivalent to dividing the premium by the number of complete periods".
I wrote a letter to the Minister about section 86 of the Finance Act, 1963. Has he had an opportunity to consider it?
I am afraid not.
Perhaps he will consider it in due course. It has been there for some time. Let us see whether we can do something about it before next year. It is a technical matter.
I am assured we have the letter.
Perhaps we could take amendments Nos. 46, 47 and 48 together.
I move amendment No. 46:
In page 56, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following new section before section 63:—
(1) This section applies to a gift of money which, on or after the 6th day of April, 1965, is made to the Minister for Finance for use for any purposes for or towards the cost of which public moneys are provided and which is accepted by that Minister.
In this subsection "public moneys" means moneys charged on or issued out of the Central Fund or provided by the Oireachtas.
(2) Where a person who has made a gift to which this section applies claims relief from tax by reference thereto, the following provisions of this section shall have effect.
(3) For the purposes of income tax (including sur-tax) for the year of assessment in which the person makes the gift, the amount thereof shall be deducted from or set off against any income of the person chargeable to tax for that year and tax shall, where necessary, be discharged or repaid accordingly; and the total income of the person or, where the person is a married woman whose income is deemed to be the income of her husband, the total income of the husband shall be calculated accordingly.
In this subsection "total income" means total income from all sources estimated in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Acts.
(4) Where a gift to which this section applies is made by a company, the amount thereof shall be allowed as a deduction in computing for the purposes of corporation profits tax the profits of the company arising in the accounting period in which the gift is made.
This is an amendment which I sought leave to introduce on Committee Stage to provide relief for gifts by people who want to make such gifts for a purpose for which State expenditure would otherwise have to be incurred out of voted moneys. In order to take advantage of one particular gift—and probably many others, I hope—it is desirable that we should give the relief in this amendment which seeks to introduce a new section.
(South Tipperary): How much does the Minister expect to get out of this one?
Nothing, except some philanthropy.
Will the Minister tell us what it means?
Certain people are interested in our ancient monuments, and if we were to carry out the kind of work these interested people would require us to do, it would cost the State a lot of money. At least one person is prepared to devote a substantial amount of money for a specific purpose, provided it is not liable to tax. I think it is reasonable, for the purpose of accepting such an offer, to provide that the money involved will not be liable to taxation.
That means if a person has an income of £100,000 a year and makes a gift of £50,000 in one year to the Government, he has £50,000 free of income tax?
That is the purpose of the amendment.
A gift to the Government in a given year operates to reduce the level of income tax liability?
With the qualification that it will be expended on work which otherwise would have to be provided for out of central funds.
I know this is an important matter we are discussing now but certain arrangements were made that certain business would finish today and unless they are adhered to, we will have to sit next week.
Why not?
Why not indeed?
I suggest that Deputy Tully is not being helpful. A great deal of work was done today.
The Fine Gael Party are not being helpful.
The Fine Gael Party have put a great deal of work and deliberation into the Finance Bill, and other people might follow that example.
The Fine Gael Party should not have agreed to finish certain business at 9 o'clock and then backed out of the agreement.
We agreed to nothing.
Thanks for your help You know what I mean by that.
If the Deputy does not understand what has been taking place, he should not blame others for it.
I move amendment No. 47:
In page 58, lines 42 and 43, to delete "section 63 (so far as it relates" and substitute "sections 63 and 64 (so far as they relate".
I move amendment No. 48:
In page 58, line 53, to delete "section 63 (so far as it relates" and substitute "section 63 and 64 (so far as they relate".
Amendment No. 49 has been ruled out of order.
Fifth Stage tomorrow morning.
I understood it was to be finished tonight, according to an agreement made.
That was agreed.
I wanted to say a few words but I understand the difficulty is the Prices Bill.
I understand there was an arrangement that we would finish this Bill and the Prices Bill tonight.
That arrangement has been rendered a little ridiculous by taking until 10.30 p.m. to deal with Fine Gael amendments, leaving one hour for the Prices Bill.
Perhaps we should let everyone be taxed indiscriminately.
We need more than 60 minutes for the Prices Bill.
We have no objection to taking the Prices Bill tomorrow.
Why not sit on?
I already suggested sitting until 2 o'clock.
OK.
The motion to sit late has already been moved and no further motion can be accepted after 8.30 p.m.
This Bill is certified a Money Bill in accordance with Article 22 of the Constitution.
