Trevor Sargent
Question:119 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Finance the amount of the capital expenditure programme allocation for 2004 which has been spent to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29986/04]
View answerTuesday, 23 November 2004
Questions (76)
Written answers
Net voted capital spending to the end of October 2004 amounted to €3.051 billion. Under the rolling multi-annual capital envelopes announced in budget 2004, Departments are allowed to carry over to the following year up to 10% of voted capital savings in the current year. Latest assessments from Departments of the full year outturn, as set out in the recently published Abridged Estimates Volume, AEV, indicate savings of €80 million net of an estimated €248 million carryover of capital savings from 2004 into 2005. A saving of €80 million would be equivalent to 1.5% of the voted capital provision in the 2004 Revised Estimates Volume, REV. On the question of costs, however, the Deputy will be aware that my Department has been working closely with the Revenue Commissioners to investigate information and data capture issues with a view to improving data quality and transparency without overburdening compliant taxpayers. On foot of this work, the Revenue Commissioners is introducing a number of changes to the forms which will yield additional information regarding the cost of certain important tax reliefs, especially the property-based incentive reliefs, and I can supply the Deputy with a list of these. Provisions were included in Finance Act 2004 to underpin these changes. This will provide better data in this area and enable fuller estimates of the tax foregone to be made over time.
Property based incentives on which information is being sought in tax forms includes urban renewal; town renewal; seaside resort; rural renewal; multi-storey car parks; living over the shop; enterprise areas; park and ride; hotels; holiday cottages; nursing homes — associated housing for elderly or infirm — and convalescent homes; student accommodation; qualifying private hospitals, including qualifying sports injury clinics; and buildings used for certain child care purposes.