asked the Minister for Finance the amount of VAT that has been collected on sales of electricity for each quarter since 31st March, 1974.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Value-Added Tax.
32.
There are practical difficulties in furnishing the information sought by the Deputy for the following reasons:
(1) The returns furnished to the Revenue Commissioners by the Electricity Supply Board state the total receipts and tax from sales of electricity and of appliances and from contract work and installation and repair services carried out by the board. Receipts from electricity sales would be included in the gross figures;
(2) In the value-added tax system the tax invoiced by the board is deducted by registered traders from their own tax liability on goods or services. Therefore the tax paid by the board is not the amount collected from electricity because part of it is subsequently credited by individual traders against their liability;
(3) Because of the two-monthly accounting system of VAT the receipts in one quarter of the year may bear little relation to the receipts in the following quarter. For instance, in the June quarter the ESB made one payment in respect of transactions in March and April while in the September quarter two payments were made —one in July for the months of May and June and another in September for the months of July and August.
During the six months ended 30th September, 1974, the ESB paid a total of £2.33 million in respect of VAT but, as I have explained, this is a gross figure which includes VAT borne by traders registered for VAT, and also the VAT in respect of sales of appliances, contract work, and so forth. In addition, where the ESB itself incurs VAT payments in respect of purchases, the amount involved would be deducted by the board in paying over VAT to the Revenue Commissioners.
33.
asked the Minister for Finance why he considers it necessary that non-oral medicines should be subject to VAT while oral medicines should not be so subject.
When value-added tax was introduced in November, 1972, all medicines were subject to the tax. In September, 1973, when food was being zero-rated it was considered necessary to extend the zero-rating to oral medicines as it was not practicable to distinguish between certain oral medicines and foods.
Value-added tax is essentially a broad-based tax on the consumption of the general public. It is therefore necessary that the extent of zero-rating be limited; otherwise the purpose of the tax would be eroded substantially.
34.
asked the Minister for Finance the amount of VAT collected from pharmacists at the rates of 6.75 per cent and 19.50 per cent in the last financial year.
Pharmacists and dealers in photographic goods are classified together for statistics relating to value-added tax. The figure for tax collected from traders in this category includes not only pharmaceutical and photographic goods but toiletries, cosmetics, wines and any other taxable goods sold or services provided by persons in the category. The tax collected in the year ended 31st March, 1974, from all taxable sales and services provided by this category of traders was approximately £1.9 million. Separate figures for pharmacists, or for different rates of tax, are not available.