I move:—
That it is expedient that legislation be enacted to give statutory effect to certain Financial Resolutions passed on the 3rd day of May, 1944, by Dáil Eireann in Committee on Finance and to make provision for other matters relating to or connected with the said Financial Resolutions.
The Dáil is probably aware of the consequences that followed the suspension of the business which was before the House when the dissolution came. The dissolution brought to an end the business that was before the Dáil, financial business and various Bills. It means that all that work which had been done has to be begun all over again in the new Parliament. Four of the Resolutions passed in Committee on Finance on 3rd May last, that is, on the day of the Budget Statement, were given statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act as from 6th April last, that is, as from the commencement of the current income-tax year. That Act, however, provides that Financial Resolutions to which statutory effect is thus given shall cease to have statutory effect on a dissolution of the Dáil. A gap has, therefore, come into existence which, if it were not bridged, would result in a position of confusion and uncertainty being created which would affect not only the revenue but also thousands of persons throughout the country, in relation to deduction of income tax from payments of ground rents, mortgage interest, dividends, etc. The Collection of Taxes (Confirmation) Bill, 1944, with which the first Resolution on this White Paper deals, is designed to put an end to any such uncertainty, and to restore the position to what it would have been if the Budget Resolutions in question had continued to have the force of law up to the date of the passing of the Finance Bill. It will be observed that the Bill gives to the Resolutions a purely temporary life. All the Resolutions with which the Bill deals will be introduced afresh prior to the introduction of the Finance Bill, which will contain clauses to the same effect as the Resolutions. The Finance Bill, however, cannot become law for some weeks, and it is essential that the state of uncertainty to which I have referred should not prevail in the meantime. I think the House will agree that, in the circumstances, it is obviously a matter of urgency that the ordinary business of the deduction of taxes from mortgages, dividends, and so on, should be properly put in order and legalised during the short interval which will elapse before the putting into law of the Finance Bill.