I move:—
That sub-section (4) (which exempts certain motor cars and component parts of motor cars from the new import duties therein mentioned) of section 13 of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1915, shall not apply
(a) to any motor cars constructed and adapted for use and intended to be used solely as motor omnibuses or in connection with the conveyance of goods or burden in the course of trade or husbandry, or
(b) to any bodies or component parts of bodies, for any such motor cars,
imported into Saorstát Eireann on or after the 1st day of July, 1924: Provided that where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that any motor car, imported into Saorstát Eireann on or after the said 1st day of July, 1924, and on which customs duty has been duly paid, is constructed and adapted for use and is intended to be used solely as a motor omnibus or in connection with the conveyance of goods or burden in the course of trade or husbandry, the Revenue Commissioners may, subject to such conditions (if any) as they may think fit to impose, repay such proportion of the customs duty so paid on such motor car as they shall determine to have been paid in respect of the chassis and accessories (if any) of such motor car.
It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1913.
This Resolution means that the tax will be paid on the car coming in, but that a rebate will be given in respect of the value of the chassis. I do not think that there is likely to be profiteering in this respect. The sort of people who will be buying these vehicles before the tax comes into operation will know exactly what they ought to pay, and I think you will not have any cases of people here overcharging before the tax comes into operation. On the other hand, I do not think that we can anticipate that as many vehicles as may be required for the year will be rushed into the country in the next month or so. These are not the sort of commodities that are so rushed in. Last year, I think, about a month elapsed from the time it became known that the duty on ordinary motor cars would apply in the Saorstát, and in spite of the fact that there was a considerable rushing in of motor cars, there was still enough imported after the tax came into operation to enable us to collect £256,000, so that even if there is an extra month, when there is only the body involved and not the chassis—and, of course, the body of many commercial vehicles, is a comparatively small part of the value of the whole vehicle—I do not think there will be a very great amount of forestalling, but there will be a certain amount.