(Cavan) asked the Minister for Local Government if a tractor owned by a limited liability company can qualify under Paragraph 3 of Part II of the Schedule to the Finance (Excise Duties) (Vehicles) Act, 1952 as amended by the Finance Acts of 1958 and 1966 for a reduced rate of duty; if not, if he will explain the reasons; and if he will take the necessary steps to have the law amended at the first available opportunity.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tax on Tractor.
49.
The reduced rate of duty of £2 10s per annum is applicable to a tractor owned by:
(a) a person whose only or chief occupation is farming,
(b) an agricultural contractor or
(c) a body certified by the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries to be a co-operative society for the purposes of the Finance (Excise Duties) (Vehicles) Act 1952.
The concession at (a) does not apply in the case of a limited liability company and it is not intended to have the law amended to provide that it should do so.
(Cavan): Would the Minister say why it is not applicable in the case of a limited liability company?
It is intended to be of assistance to farmers.
(Cavan): Does the Minister not agree that in the year 1969 quite a few comparatively small family concerns have been turned into companies and that, although they are engaged in agriculture and nothing else, they are not entitled to the £2 10s tax rate on tractors, because it is held in the Minister's Department that the company cannot have an occupation? Would the Minister not agree with me that it is an unduly restrictive interpretation, that only a living person can have an occupation, having regard to the fact that a limited company is regarded for all other purposes as an individual?
No, I do not agree. I think it is quite right that this should be retained as far as possible for farmers.
(Cavan): Does the Minister not agree that a company could be a farmer?