Vol. 487 No. 3
170 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider whether the £13,000 bill for stamp duty for a club (details supplied) in Limerick can be waived particularly following the recent £250,000 purchase of new grounds, in view of the fact that the club caters for more than 400 children and young players and that the purchase price for the grounds was raised by the club itself. [3736/98]
Stamp duties are payable on certain documents such as deeds of property transfer. The rate of stamp duty on the transfer of land depends on the market value of the land. There is an exemption from stamp duty in respect of conveyances, transfers or leases of land made to a body of persons established for charitable purposes only or to the trustees of a trust so established. To qualify for the exemption the land must be acquired by a charity and it must be acquired for the purposes of carrying on the charity. The exemption is confined to charities which have been approved as such by the Revenue Commissioners.
This exemption for charities is based on legislation and neither I nor the Revenue Commissioners have powers to waive stamp duty in other cases where an exemption does not exist. Any move to legislate for an exemption for voluntary groups in general would reduce the yield from stamp duty and, perhaps more crucially, given the diversity of groups which fall into this category it would be very difficult to administer and could not be easily confined to genuine cases.
Revenue from stamp duty on property plays an important role in shifting some of the burden of taxation away from employment and it also makes a significant contribution toward the cost of implementing Government policy.
