The Bill which I am asking leave to introduce is entitled:—
A Bill to enable county councils to give relief from rates on occupiers of agricultural land and for that purpose to abate the amount of agricultural rates to be raised off agricultural lands in the local financial year ending 31st day of March, 1925, and to enable county councils to borrow for the purpose aforesaid, and to make provision for other matters connected with the purposes aforesaid.
I must ask the indulgence of the Dáil to make a slightly, or shall I say a somewhat, longer statement than is usual on First Reading. The Bill itself tells Deputies very little, while its implications are considerable. It will probably save time in the long run and certainly be fairer to all concerned if they are explained before the Second Stage is reached. I can only make amends for any delay which is caused now by promising to be correspondingly brief on the Second Reading. As the title shows, the Bill aims at giving immediate relief to agriculture. It is not intended as a substitute for any of the measures necessary for the development of agriculture. These measures are known already to the Dáil, and Bills for the purpose of giving effect to them have been, or will be, introduced according to time-tables. This Bill is a relief measure pure and simple.
I do not think that at this hour I need argue as to the necessity for giving some immediate relief to agriculture. The depression in agriculture is not peculiar to Ireland. It is common to every country in Europe and in America. It is probably, owing to a number of adverse causes, more acute in Ireland than in most countries, and since the agricultural industry is practically the only industry in Ireland at present, and is likely to remain our main industry in the future, we must be all the more concerned about its condition. All this, I think, I am entitled to say, is admitted. The real difficulty is to find the most suitable method of giving this immediate relief.
The problem has to be considered in the light of the special circumstances of this country, and from that point of view the first difficulty in the way is the fact that in spite of our high taxation there is no money to spare. We are learning every day that we cannot have our loaf and eat it, that we cannot waste twenty or thirty millions in destruction and be under the necessity of spending as much more in preventing further destruction, and have that money after all. We are not in a position to increase the agricultural grant. This grant, as Deputies probably know, is an annual grant paid by the Treasury to county councils for the purpose of giving relief to rates payable out of agricultural land. It first became payable under the Local Government Act of 1898, and was, at that time, a recognition of the fact that farmers should not be asked to pay for services such as water, light, heat and sanitation which are not supplied to them by county or district councils. At its inception the amount of the grant was decided with a view to giving 50 per cent. relief to the rates payable out of agricultural land as against the rates payable out of what are called "other hereditaments." It is a fixed grant. It was fixed in '98 and the quota for Ireland was fixed at that date and remains the same, that is, £599,000 per annum. The total rate, however, has increased yearly. The result is that at present instead of the relief being 50 per cent. it is much less than 25 per cent. Now, we could not in our present financial position, increase the agricultural grant, so we have to do the next best thing. The rate for the current year beginning on the 1st April, 1924, has already been assessed and in the rural districts, that is, in the whole of the Free State, with the exception of the county boroughs and urban districts, it amounts, as I have already stated, to about £3,000,000. Of this amount £2,315,000 is paid out of agricultural land, and the balance, £685,000, is paid out of other hereditaments, that is to say, farmers' houses, villages, railways, etc., in the rural districts and in towns which are not county boroughs and not administered by urban councils. This Bill empowers each county council to borrow not more than two-thirds of the amount supposed to be raised out of agricultural lands, in the year 1924-1925, and to repay this loan within such period, not exceeding seven years, as the county council, with the consent of the Minister for Local Government, may determine. The current rate payable, therefore, out of agricultural lands this year in any county where the option is exercised will be one-third of the actual rate assessed on agricultural land. Thus, out of a total rate assessed out of agricultural lands for the year 1924-25 of £2,315,000, the rate payable, if the option is exercised by all county councils, will be £771,666, and the amount of the abatement will be £1,543,334. The whole scheme contemplates that this money will be borrowed by each county council from the bank which is its Treasurer, and may be repayable by an annuity extending over a period of not more than seven years. The annual payment of interest on sinking funds for a seven year period would approximate to about £250,000.
The total rate collectable, therefore, during the current year, if all the county councils exercise the option which they are entitled to under the scheme will be as follows:—
|
Arrears of rates |
£1,550,000 |
|
Abated rate on agricultural land |
771,666 |
|
Full rate on other hereditaments |
685,000 |
|
Total rate to be collected |
£3,006,666 |
Without this scheme, the total rate collectable in the current year would be £4,550,000, made up of £3,000,000 full current rate and £1,550,000 arrears. To collect £4,550,000 in rates in one year, or fifty per cent. more than one year's collection of Land Purchase Annuities from people whose income is made out of land, is not, in all the circumstances, a workable proposition. On the other hand, the interest and sinking fund payable annually over a seven-year period on the loan required for the abatement contemplated by this scheme, will not add appreciably to the current rates for that period, and ought to be more than offset by savings resulting from the reorganisation of Local Government which is now under way. In order to make the scheme quite clear I propose to give one example:—A owes one year's arrears and is, in addition, liable for his current rate, and B owes no arrears but is liable only for his current rate. Assume that their rates payable out of agricultural land for the years 1923-24 and 1924-25 are the same, namely £60 for 1923-24 and £57 in each case for 1924-25. A will pay his year's arrears, £60, plus one-third of the current rate, £19, that is to say, a total payment of £79. Without the scheme his total payment would be £60 plus £57, namely £117. His abatement amounts to £38. B who owes no arrears, will pay £19 out of his current rate of £57, and will be relieved to the same extent, £38. In each case, instead of paying £38 this year, each will pay it over a period of seven years by a small annual payment, the first payment to be made in 1925-26. With the help of this scheme there will be no excuse for county councils who fail to collect their arrears and the only change which need be made in the Demand Notes which are now ready for issue is to divide the rate payable out of agricultural land by three.
The Minister for Local Government has co-operated in the preparation of this scheme which, as I have stated, is primarily and directly for the relief of agriculture, because he believes that it will enable him to clear up the existing position of local taxation with its trail of outstanding arrears, and further give the necessary breathing space to prepare and initiate the schemes which are undoubtedly necessary in connection with the reorganisation of Local Government, and in particular to investigate the question as to whether the rural ratepayers who are paying £2,000,000 for roads and asylums alone out of a total rate of £3,000,000 are getting value for their money.
We have just left a year, 1923, which, considered by itself, has undoubtedly been an extremely bad year for the farmer. Things seem to be taking at least a slight turn for the better. Where prices are not improving, they are at least stabilising. It is just at this period, therefore, that relief will be welcomed and will be useful. This Bill enables immediate relief to be given. It, at least, gives a breathing space, and it is not too much to hope that by the time the comparatively small interest and sinking fund becomes payable it will be very much more than offset by the savings resulting from the re-organisation of the local authorities, the favourable tendency in agricultural prices which I have just mentioned, and the effects which ought by then to be felt from the operation of the measures for the standardisation of agricultural products, which either have been, or will be, introduced into the Dáil in the present session. I move for leave to introduce the Bill.
Leave to introduce, the Bill granted. Second Stage fixed for Tuesday, 10th June.