asked the Minister for Finance if he will introduce legislation to amend the Income Tax Act, 1967 to provide for the exemption of farmers engaged in market gardening.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Income Tax Exemption.
36.
I regret that I cannot see my way to introduce the legislation suggested by the Deputy.
Would the Minister not consider that it is unjust to penalise small, industrious market garden farmers who have to seek a living on six, seven and eight acres in County Dublin?
No. It depends on their income. The Deputy will appreciate that market gardeners have always been treated as a trade for the purpose of taxation, and, of course, they get the benefits of the various initial and annual allowances. Since they have always been liable for income tax, it would not be justifiable for me to exempt them. There would be many other categories who would be equally well able to claim exemption, and I could not contemplate extending exemption from income tax on that basis.
There may be other categories who need exemption from income tax, and just because they have been under the income tax code for the last 50 years does not mean we should not do something for them now, in view of the circumstances of the case which I put before the Minister last week. There are numerous other farmers in County Dublin who are in the same situation——
We cannot debate this at Question Time.
——and they deserve better treatment than we are giving them.
There are also a number of fairly well established companies engaged in market gardening whom it would be necessary to exempt also if this were done.
There is a difference between companies and farmers.
You cannot segregate liability to tax on the basis of the individual.
Could the Minister tell the House at what point the ordinary small farmer becomes a market gardener for the purposes of income tax and what yardsticks are applied?
That is a separate question.
It is not really.
Generally speaking, a market garden is a defined area, it is permanent, it is cultivated as a market garden from year to year and the method of cultivation is intensive.
Who does all this investigation?
The inspector of taxes, I assume, in the first place, but, as in the case mentioned by Deputy Foley, there is an appeal to the appeals commissioner and, of course, it may be taken further than that.