asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that some printing firms are quoting printing prices and are subsequently adding in turnover tax after the work has been done; and if he will make it clear that all in prices should be quoted.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Printing Prices.
38.
Traders and contractors are under no obligation to quote prices which include turnover tax. It is up to the purchaser in all cases to ascertain whether prices quoted for goods or services are inclusive of turnover tax.
Would the Minister not agree that it is part of the price control machinery to ensure that where a quotation is given for a particular item, for instance printing, it should be a correct quotation and not one that can be increased considerably afterwards by adding on tax?
The Deputy is aware that in the case of printing work that is on a contract basis, arising from a quotation, it would be outside the scope of the Prices Act. Another aspect of this is that if a customer was himself a registered dealer the printer could not charge him turnover tax so that you would have complications from that point of view.
For instance, if a football club orders some printing and after paying the bill they receive a bill for £20 or £30 for turnover tax on a big order, would the Minister consider that is honest dealing when the tax has not been mentioned up to then?
The club that would be making such an order, one would expect, would check whether it would be liable to turnover tax.
Does the Minister understand that the competitiveness of the order is affected by the fact that turnover tax was not added in the first case by one firm but was added by others? When the job was done the tax was added on. It is a serious amount to a small client.
I do not think it would be proper for me to insist that all-in prices should be quoted, but I would certainly recommend that the tax should be shown in quotations.