Gerard Murphy
Ceist:20 Mr. Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he has plans to introduce greater transparency in tax expenditures in budget 2005. [24596/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 14 October 2004
Ceisteanna (21)
Freagraí scríofa
Tax expenditures are regularly reviewed and are invariably looked at in the context of the annual budget and Finance Bill process to ensure they continue to meet the purpose or purposes for which they were introduced. Where tax changes are announced in the budget, they are set out in the summary of budget measures together with an estimated cost or yield, where possible. This will continue to be the position.
On the question of costs, it is the Office of the Revenue Commissioners which is the main source of information, statistics and data on tax incentives and expenditures. However, the Revenue Commissioners' primary functions are the administration of the tax system and the collection of tax. The extraction of statistical information flows from those primary functions.
My Department has been working closely with the Revenue Commissioners to investigate information and data capture issues with a view to improving data quality and transparency without overburdening compliant taxpayers. On foot of this work, the Revenue Commissioners are introducing a number of changes to the forms which will yield additional information regarding the cost of various tax reliefs and relief relating to pensions. Provisions were included in Finance Act 2004 to underpin these changes.
Changes were made in this area previously. The Finance Act 2003 stipulated that returns of income must henceforth be made for stallion stud fees and commercially managed woodlands. This will provide better data in this area and enable estimates of the tax foregone to be made. In addition, the use of electronic filing of tax returns by means of the Revenue Commissioners' on-line system, ROS, has been increasing and will continue to be encouraged. Returns filed using ROS can more readily accommodate information data capture.
Finally, I do not believe that each and every relief needs to be captured as some of them are on such a small scale that the cost involved in doing so would not be commensurate with the value of the information sought. Equally, the manner of capturing information on tax reliefs is not limited to examining return forms. For example, there is no need to seek information on tax returns relating to the tax exemption for child benefit as the cost involved can be estimated from other sources.