Vol. 457 No. 5
40 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Finance the progress, if any, that has been made to date in relation to the consolidation of the Income Tax Acts and Corporation Profit Tax Acts; when it is likely that the task will be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15738/95]
Work on the project to consolidate the extensive law relating to income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax commenced in June last with the establishment of a team comprising experienced staff from the Revenue Commissioners and a private sector consultant with the requisite editorial and tax background. This team is initially compiling a computer based record of the exact status i.e. whether repealed, amended, substituted, etc., of each tax provision enacted from the Income Tax Act, 1967, to the Finance Act, 1995, inclusive. This record will be necessary in order for the parliamentary draftsman to trace the origins of each provision in the Consolidation Bill. Such tracing is required so that the Attorney-General's office can endorse the Bill as no more than a re-enactment of existing legislation in a consolidated format.
The team is also engaged in identifying provisions of the tax code which could usefully be amended in order to facilitate the preparation of the Consolidation Bill. The teams proposals in this area, which are to be considered with a view to including them in the 1996 Finance Bill, may include: measures for rationalising existing provisions, rectifying inconsistencies and drafting errors and repealing spent or redundant provisions.
A draft structure for the Consolidation Bill has also been prepared and the indications at present are that the Bill will run to some 50 Parts comprising about 1,100 sections. In the circumstances the Bill is likely to be the largest in the history of the State. Preliminary discussions about the structure of the Bill, and the logistics of processing the drafting, have taken place with the parliamentary draftsman.
Work on the actual detailed drafting of the Bill is expected to commence shortly and, assuming that the work schedule can be adhered to and no unforeseen difficulties arise, it is hoped to have the Bill published early in 1997.
