Section 48 specifies the persons who will be liable to pay this tax. When the Bill was introduced in the Dáil, a person whose receipts for the sale of goods did not exceed £500 per month had the option of not being accountable for this tax. On 16th July on Report Stage, the Minister moved an amendment to delete £500 and substitute £750 and it was agreed. Does the Minister know exactly what he wants in this Bill? First he said £500; then £250 was mentioned by members of the Fianna Fáil Party; and some of the Independents who supported the Government wanted the figure increased to £750 per month.
Seven hundred and fifty pounds per month is about £9,000 per year. Therefore, people on less than £750 per month will not be personally liable for the tax but they can purchase from the wholesaler who will undertake to pay the tax on their behalf. It means that there will be no inquisition as to their sales: they will be free from form filling and free from inspection by the Revenue Commissioners. But how is the Minister to know whether their sales are under or over £750 a month? If they are purchasing from the one wholesaler, that wholesaler will make the returns for them but if they are dealing with six or seven wholesalers, the position will be different.
We know that business is not static and that it varies from month to month. We know also that, due to inflation, money can lose its value very quickly. I should like the Minister to tell us how the Revenue Commissioners are going to deal with this matter if money should lose its value within the next few years. We are told that by increasing the figure to £750 a month, we exclude practically 80 per cent of the retailers. Then why have two sets of collecting machinery, one for the 20 per cent and the other for the wholesalers? We in Fine Gael are against this tax entirely. If the Government want to get this £11 million, surely they have other methods of getting it.
I should like to reply to the remark made by Senator Flanagan last week by saying that all the shopkeepers are not robbers, rogues or black marketeers. The majority of them are decent, respectable people. The money must come from the consumer and if that is the Government's aim, I think the best thing to have done would have been to extract it from them by the simplest machinery possible. Then why set up two systems of collection if the result is to be exactly the same? Under the complicated system now proposed by the Minister, 80 per cent of the retailers need not keep books or accounts but can purchase their supplies from the wholesalers and they will have to pay the wholesalers the 2½ per cent tax on the goods they buy. The retailers will have to pass that on to the consumers.
The other 20 per cent of the retailers must become unpaid tax collectors. They must keep accounts and be ready for inspection by the Revenue Commissioners. They must purchase from the wholesalers at a price different from that at which the other 80 per cent of the retailers will purchase. If they are to recoup themselves, they must add that 2½ per cent to the consumer price, keep their returns and pay the 2½ per cent to the Revenue Commissioners.
This will all add up to extra work and expense on the wholesalers as they must themselves sell at two different price levels. They must sell to the 80 per cent of the retailers at the cost of the goods, plus 2½ per cent and to the remainder of the retailers at the ordinary wholesale prices. The wholesalers will also have to compensate themselves for the extra cost and expense and perhaps, instead of charging 2½ per cent, they will have to charge 3 per cent or 3½ per cent to cover their expenses. All this is bound to increase the cost of living. There is little use talking about wages standstill orders because this increase will have to be passed on.
If the Minister is determined to collect this £11 million annually, why not do it in an efficient manner? Why not go the whole hog and allow it be collected in the same way as it will be collected from 80 per cent of the retailers? It was admitted in the Dáil that 80 per cent of the retailers can purchase from the wholesalers and that the wholesalers will keep the accounts and forward the tax to the Government. If the Minister is determined to get this money, why not let the wholesalers collect from all the retailers? It would be a much more efficient way of doing it.