I think this Bill will not cause any difficulty. The Finance Act of 1921 gave the Revenue Commissioners power to exempt from income tax certain superannuation funds. That Act operated in Great Britain, as well as here, as it was passed before the establishment of the Free State. The British Revenue Commissioners were proceeding to give effect to it when they found that the trusts of certain funds appeared to be contrary to the rule of law against perpetuities. It is a rule of law that no property can be disposed of or transferred in such a manner as to delay the period in which it would pass into the hands of an absolute owner, by more than a life or lives and 21 years afterwards. The principle is that it is desirable that the period during which the property would be in the possession of a limited owner, such as a tenant for life, should be as restricted as possible. Certain of these trusts were perpetual trusts and consequently appeared to be invalidated by this rule of law against perpetuities.
A British Treasury Commission was established to examine into the matter and on its report the British Government introduced an Act for the registration of these funds, a proposal almost similar to the Bill now before the Seanad. The Revenue Commissioners were, of course, unable to give the income tax concession to these funds because of the fact that they had been invalidated by this rule of law. There was a test case in Great Britain and it confirmed the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners, that these funds had been invalidated by the rule of law. They are mostly funds established by industrial concerns out of which superannuation allowances are paid to their employees when they retire. It is necessary that we should validate these funds here. We propose to do that by the enactment of this measure which declares that these funds shall not be invalidated by this rule of law. The Bill provides for the setting up of a register of the funds under the control of the Registrar of Friendly Societies. If the funds conform with the conditions set out in Section 2 and if the rules conform with the conditions set out in the Schedule, then the funds are registered by the Registrar and consequently become perfectly legal, and entitled to the income tax concession. These are the important points that arise. We have deliberately kept the Bill in very close accord with the corresponding legislation in Great Britain, because a number of the funds are associated with concerns that operate both inside and outside the Saorstát, and it is desirable that there should not be any considerable difference in the law in both countries affecting these funds.