I move that the Dáil agree with the Committee in Resolution No. 2.
This Resolution, as the House is aware, arises out of the Local Services (Temporary Economies) Act, 1934, which provided for deductions from the remuneration payable to officers of local authorities for the year which ended on the 31st of March, 1935. Section 3 of the Finance Act of 1934 provided that, for the purpose of computing an assessment in regard to income-tax for the year 1934-35, a person who was an officer within the meaning of the Local Services (Temporary Economies) Act should be allowed a deduction equal to the amount of the deduction to be made in respect of that year, under the Local Services (Temporary Economies) Act, from the remuneration paid to the officers of the local authority concerned. It happened that Section 9 of that Act also provided for adjustments in the amount of the cut up to the end of the year 1935 and, accordingly, the amount of the cut which was to be made under the Local Services (Temporary Economies) Act was not necessarily determined finally in all cases up to December, 1935. Now, of course, the operations of the income-tax code could not be suspended in respect of these officers of local authorities until December, 1935, and it happened that, while in general the assessments on the salaries actually enjoyed by these officers of local authorities were made equitably, in a small number of cases, taking the assessments for 1934-35 and 1935-36 together, the allowances in respect of the cut were either too little or too much. Thanks to the courtesy of the Opposition, I had not an opportunity to explain this matter fully on the Committee Stage, and I am explaining it now. The purpose of this Resolution is to provide for any adjustments which may be necessary in view of the fact that, in some cases, the assessments were either too little or too much. In other words, the purpose of the Resolution is to make an equitable assessment on all the officers of the local authorities concerned.
