I move:—
1. Section 1, sub-section (2). To insert after the sub-section a new sub-section as follows:—
(3) No income tax or super-tax shall be charged in respect of compounded arrears of rent payable under the Land Act, 1923, until such arrears have been actually paid to the person entitled to the same. Any income tax or super-tax that has already been paid on such unpaid compounded arrears of rent, either by direct assessment or by set-off against other moneys due, shall be refunded. Where such arrears are payable in stock, both income tax and super-tax shall be likewise payable in the same stock at parity value.
The amendment is put down in order to obtain from the Government some declaration of their policy and intentions in this matter. Cases have come to my notice where demands or efforts are being made to obtain super-tax on compounded arrears of rent that have never been collected or paid to the owners or those entitled to them. As the House knows, a certain moiety of compounded arrears was made payable under the Land Act of 1923 and have been collected, and so far as that transaction is concerned there is no reason for complaint. But under the Act of 1927 the uncollected amount, roughly the remaining half, is not to be collected in cash at all. It is going to be issued in the form of stock and ultimately, when the lands are vested. added to the purchase money and paid in stock to the former owner. Cases have come to my notice where pressure was placed on owners actually to pay super-tax on such futurities, or, to put it in another way, on the prospects of that stock that may some day arise. The argument is that the liability arises under Schedule A there and then. Whether the amount is ever collected or not does not come into the case at all. Even on strict law I do not believe that that could be sustained, because under the Act of 1927 the contractual basis that underlies the whole of that is swept away. The landlord's right to collect such rent disappeared by statute, but in any case it is hardly to be expected that owners would contest this, because if the Government wish to fight it they can go to the High Court and the Court of Appeal. It is unthinkable that owners would be compelled to take that course.
Whatever the law may be, we know that in practice the Revenue Commissioners have power to make concessions. I went personally to a high official in the office of the Special Commissioner with a definite case where pressure had been put on for such payment, and I was told that it was not the intention of the Revenue Commissioners to press. In that case I have reason to believe that nothing further was done. I doubt if it was a unique case, and I should, at least, like an assurance from the Government that there have been no cases where such claims were actually met, because that would be—I do not like to use the words false pretences or language as strong as that— I suggest under misapprehension, as if the taxpayers had known how to handle the matter they would never have paid it. That only refers to direct payments; but there are other cases which I wish to deal with, where payment is actually being met by a set-off. Where the Government had liabilities to an individual for compensation they have, I know—and I can give private particulars to the Minister—deducted super-tax on these amounts that are going to be paid some day—no one knows when. The legality of that is, I think, open to question, and certainly in all reason payments should not be exacted until the moneys come to hand. Moreover, these set-offs have been made in the form of cash, whereas the amounts are going to be paid in stock, and at least the set-offs should have some relation to the cash value of the stock. In some cases, I think, this is a great injustice to the taxpayers. I firmly believe that the Revenue Commissioners have power to act by way of concession, and I would ask the Minister if that attitude cannot be adopted and announced, and if any payment made owing to inadvertence or lack of vigilance on the part of the taxpayer will be held or credited against future liabilities.
