The purpose of the Finance Bill is two-fold; first to make provision for the imposition, adjustment and remission of taxation as outlined in the Budget, and, secondly, to give effect to any changes in existing taxation legislation which have been found necessary or desirable. As there will be an opportunity of discussing the various sections in detail later, during the Committee Stage, it will be necessary at this stage to refer to the provisions of the Bill only in a general way. Clause 1 of the Bill prescribes the rates of income tax and sur-tax for the current financial year and provides for the continuance of previous enactments. In regard to Clause 2, income tax assessments under Schedule A on buildings in the Saorstát are based on the poor law valuation. As an allowance for repairs and maintenance is made in arriving at the valuation, there is no justification, in our view, for making a deduction from the income tax assessments in respect of these items. It is proposed under Section 2 of the Bill to discontinue this deduction accordingly. No alteration, I should point out, will be made in the existing practice relating to the assessments on lands, farmhouses and factories. The second sub-section of this section provides for relief in the case of cottage property. It will be remembered that the Finance Act of 1933 provided that persons to whom the Public Services (Temporary Economies) Act, 1933, applied, should be assessed to income tax during the financial year 1933-34 on the salaries which they would have received in the preceding year had the Temporary Economies Act been in operation during that year. Section 3 (1) of the Bill will have the effect when enacted of off-setting the concession made to people covered by that Act last year. In the case of national teachers, however, some concession is necessary in view of the reductions in their salary scales which have taken effect as from the 1st April last. Sub-section (3) of the section is directed to this end. Sub-section (2) of the same section will afford persons affected by the Local Services (Temporary Economies) Act of this year relief in regard to income tax on lines somewhat similar to those afforded last year to persons to whom the Public Services (Temporary Economies) Act, 1933, applies.
Section 4 deals with income arising from mining royalties and other income of a similar nature arising outside the Saorstát and is necessary for precautionary purposes in view of the danger which exists following a recent decision of the British High Court. The clause will not involve the payment by any taxpayer of more than he would have paid under the practice hitherto prevailing. In connection with Clause 5, I should point out that under the provisions of Part 2 of the First Schedule of the Finance Act of 1929, the tax in respect of income arising from possessions in any place out of Saorstát Eireann, falls to be computed on the full amount thereof arising in the year preceding the year of assessment, whether the income has been or will be received in Saorstát Eireann or not, if the taxpayer is domiciled and ordinarily resident here. It has been decided in the courts that income arising from an employment exercised wholly abroad is income from a foreign possession and it is found that in certain cases of Irishmen employed wholly abroad and technically resident in this country a hardship arises. This clause is designed to enable the Revenue Commissioners to grant such relief as may be just and equitable in such cases.
With regard to Section 7, Section 139 of the Income Tax Act of 1918 provides for the issue by the Special Commissioners of what is known as a precept, calling on a person who had given notice of appeal to furnish a schedule of particulars for the purposes of the appeal. As there are only two Appeal Commissioners, and the appeal may be heard by one commissioner, the signature of such precepts by both commissioners, as is now required, gives rise to administrative difficulties and is obviously unnecessary. In 1929 legislation was passed enabling one Special Commissioner to hear appeals. There are certain applications for relief, however, usually unimportant from the point of view of the Exchequer, but important from the point of view of the taxpayer, which are not technically appeals within the meaning of the Income Tax Acts and the 1929 legislation does not apply to these. The new clause will have the effect of remedying what we have regarded as a difficulty in the present procedure. Clause 7 is designed to simplify and to bring up to date the method of appointment of collectors of taxes and eliminate the necessity for the sealing by the Special Commissioners of the warrants appointing collectors. It eliminates also the necessity for the signatures of the Special Commissioners, to the collector's duplicates of assessments.
Clause 8 relates to the imposition of certain new Customs duties and the adjustment of certain other Customs duties as set out in the First Schedule. Clauses 9, 10, 11 and 12 are designed to codify the enactments relating to the Customs duties on boots and shoes, wearing apparel, and on certain woven tissues and motor vehicles. Certain minor modifications are made but the main purpose of the clause is to simplify administration by bringing together, within the four clauses, the existing legislation regarding the duties on these articles at present spread over several enactments. Clause 13 relates to the imposition of a Customs duty on steam cars, parts and accessories. Clause 14 makes provision from the reduction, as on the 1st July, of the duty on tea by 4d. per pound and is subject to certain conditions for refund, in regard to stocks in the hands of dealers on that date. Clause 15 grants exemption to antiques from Customs duty. Clause 16 provides for the alteration of duty on daily papers, bringing it up to two-thirds of a penny per copy. Clause 17 is a clause giving general power to the Revenue Commissioners to determine the rate of drawback payable in respect of tobaccos. Clause 18 provides for a reduction from 7d. to 3½d. in the amount of rebate allowable in the case of certain manufactures. Clause 19 provides for the revision of Excise duty on tobacco.
Effect is given in Clause 20 to the exemption from entertainments tax of all outdoor athletic sports, in accordance with the resolution adopted in the Dáil. Clauses 21 and 22 are complementary, mainly, to Clauses 9 to 12, to which I have referred. They are generally in the way of repeals and amendments to certain precedent Finance Acts. With regard to Clause 23, formerly road tax was payable in respect of all street taxis, at the rate of £20 per annum, but a rebate of £8 per annum was allowable at the end of the period, thus reducing the duty in certain circumstances to £12. Clause 23 has the effect of abolishing the rebate system and reducing the rate of tax to £10 per annum. Clause 24 is designed to secure that tractors on which trailers are superimposed will be regarded as lorries for road taxation purposes. I should like to point out that the clause does not refer to tractor and trailer units where the trailer is attached by a simple draw-bar arrangement. The three remaining clauses of Part II of the Bill relate to administration. The first provides that the penalty for a certain type of road tax offence may be recovered and enforced at the suit of a member of the Gárda Síochána and that the District Court shall have power to mitigate any such penalty. This section will bring the kind of offences to which I have referred into line with other road tax offences in the matter of court proceedings. The necessity for Section 26 arises from the fact that under existing legislation search warrants in certain types of cases can be enforced only in the daytime. The legislation embodied does not define the time the Revenue Commissioners are entitled to make search and they were advised that it covered a period from sunrise to sunset. This limitation has hitherto proved a very powerful safeguard for smugglers. The proposed amendment is put in in view of the fact that from the Excise laws that prevented searching by night emerged a very unsatisfactory condition of affairs in regard to smuggling.
Clause 27 provides general penalties for breach of conditions by persons securing licences from the Revenue Commissioners for the importation of any goods or articles. Clause 28, under Part III of the Bill, provides that in the case of an annuity or other interest the extent of the beneficial interest in such annuity or other interest on the death of the deceased shall be ascertained without regard to any expectant interest which the person who so becomes entitled to any such beneficial interest on such death may have had in such annuity or other interest before the death of the testator. Sections 29 and 30 are necessary amendments of the provisions of the Finance Act relating to transfer and mostly intended to prevent evasion of death duties. Clause 31 is introduced because it is considered necessary to provide that bequests to foreign charities shall not be exempt from legacy or succession duties. Clause 32 provides for the granting of such exemption in the case of bequests to Irish charity. Clause 33 is designed to simplify the existing procedure relating to legacy and death duties. It is hoped that as a result of this clause these proceedings will be more expeditious and inexpensive than the cumbersome methods at present of proceeding by way of question and answer. On the other hand, the taxpayer will not be hampered or his difficulty unduly increased.
Clause 34 of Part IV of the Bill— Miscellaneous and General—provides for exemption of the stamp duty in the case of instruments whereby any property is reconveyed, retransferred or released to the Agricultural Corporation, Ltd. Section 35 is intended, as the marginal note indicates, to give "confirmation of powers of and acts done by the Revenue Commissioners." Clause 36 is the usual clause providing for the care and management of all taxes and duties provided by the Bill, and Clause 37 is the short title and construction and commencement.
