I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
The purpose of this Bill is to bring within the confines of a single enactment the law relating to income tax. The fact that the Bill is intended as a purely consolidating measure requires that it does not in any way alter existing law. This has often meant preserving unchanged the language of old enactments although in some places it has been considered permissible to seek an improvement on the original wording.
The Bill, as framed, embraces the Income Tax Act, 1918, which is the basic enactment, together with the Finance Acts 1919 to 1965. It takes account also of the various adapting orders and enactments which affect the body of income tax law.
The Bill is expressed to operate from 6th April, 1967, and in order that it may embody income tax legislation in force on that date, it is proposed to move amendments on Committee Stage which would enable any relevant provisions of the Finance Act, 1966, to be incorporated.
The Bill is, I believe, the largest ever to come before the House and I trust that the Standing Committee on Consolidation Bills, to which I will propose the Bill should be referred, will not find their task too onerous.