asked the Minister for Finance if he is prepared to grant an appropriate financial allowance to shopkeepers and traders in respect of operating the VAT system.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - VAT Allowance.
98.
The operation of the VAT system requires the submission of returns and payment of tax only once every two months as against every month under the former sales taxes system. Accordingly, shopkeepers and traders, in general, have had their liquid cash position improved. Furthermore, under the VAT system, full relief is now given for tax, formerly borne by them, on purchases of such items as premises, equipment and shop furnishings. I am satisfied that the system does not make unreasonable demands on shopkeepers and traders and that a financial allowance of the kind proposed would not, therefore, be justified.
Will the Minister accept that in other areas companies that handle documentation have been allowed by the Minister for Industry and Commerce to charge the rate of 50p per issue of documentation?
In reply to the first part of the Deputy's supplementary, I am not so aware. The matter that Deputy Tunney is advocating has been urged on several Ministers for Finance for several years and has not been conceded.
(Dublin Central): Certain concessions were given in the turnover tax at that time——
The concession in relation to turnover tax had no relation to the cost of the processing of sales taxes. The concession was a marginal relief for small traders who were immediately above small business exemptions.