I move amendment No. 117:
In page 73, before section 32, but in Chapter VI, to insert the following new section:
"32.—Section 39 (6) of the Finance Act, 1980, as inserted by section 47 of the Finance Act, 1992, is hereby deleted and substituted by the following in respect of accounting periods ending on or after 1 April, 1992:
‘(6) (a) (i) For the purposes of this subsection "newspapers" means newspapers, normally published at least fortnightly, the contents of each issue of which consist, wholly or mainly, as regards the quantity of printed matter contained in them, of information on the principal current events and topics of general public interest.
(ii) For the purposes of this Chapter, where in a relevant accounting period a company renders advertising services in the course of a trade carried on by it and which consist wholly or partly of the manufacture of a newspaper, then any amount receivable in payment for the rendering of such services shall be regarded as an amount receivable from the sale of goods.
(b) For the purposes of this Chapter, where in an accounting period ending on or after 1 April 1992 a company renders advertising services in the course of a trade carried on by it and which consists wholly or partly of the production of a magazine or other similar product, then—
(i) any amount receivable in payment for the rendering of such services shall not be regarded as an amount receivable from the sale of goods, and
(ii) for the purposes of section 41, the company's income from the trade for a relevant accounting period shall be regarded as not derived solely from the sale of goods and merchandise.'.".
One of the difficulties I had in tabling these amendments was that I did not have available the Minister's proposals in relation to the tax treatment of 10 per cent corporation tax on advertising revenue of newspapers. Therefore, I did not have an amendment to amend, as it were. The Minister can let me know what his amendment proposes to do and I will explain the purposes of my amendment No. 117.
As I understand it, there are three types of newspapers. There are newspapers that do everything themselves. They edit, publish and do the physical printing process all in one. Then there are others which have two or more companies, a sales company for the advertising revenue, a distribution company perhaps and a manufacturing company. These may be separate but they are owned by one parent company. Thirdly, there are provincial papers and others who do the publishing. They put the actual plate together, but there is a separate publishing company somewhere down the country.
The National Newspapers of Ireland Association has made representations to all Deputies about the difficulties they are currently experiencing in relation to the increase in imports of newspapers and in relation to their basic lack of profitability. With the change in the broadcasting legislation vis-�-vis advertising revenue, they fear this situation will worsen.
It is agreed that the first two categories will qualify. What has been sought here is that in all three types of newspaper, including those where the publishing and printing company are separate, the publishing company, not just the printing company, will be able to avail of the 10 per cent corporation tax rate. That is the purpose of my amendment. I think it is not unreasonable, given that the Minister advised the House both at his press concerence and on Second Stage that, given the difficulties of newspapers, he intended to give their advertising revenue the benefit of this. I hope the Minister can confirm that virtually every newspaper in the country will benefit.
I would like the Minister to clarify what a newspaper is. Is the Dandy comic or isGael Sport a newspaper? What is the difference between a magazine and a newspaper? Are free sheets newspapers, or are they magazines? I do not know ifSouthside is still in publication but, if so, is it a newspaper, or was the Dublin Tribune a newspaper? Obviously this is a contentious issue because certain publications consider themselves to be newspapers and others do not. Will the Minister clarify that?