A rushed Finance Bill will result in bad tax laws – Chartered Accountants Ireland
Sun, Jan 23, 2011
Chartered Accountants Ireland believes that rushing through the Finance Bill 2011 in the time being proposed today by both Government and Opposition spokespersons will result in bad tax legislation. The proposed timeframe for the passage of the Finance Bill will result in the normal process being truncated, possibly down to one eighth of the time usually allotted.
The Finance Bill is a complicated piece of legislation. It affects every person in the State by levying tax on our citizens. The process of debating the Finance Bill allows time to establish whether or not the Budget Day policies and decisions are accurately reflected in the proposed law. In addition this Finance Bill of 2011 also introduces charges and levies not mentioned at Budget time. These include new powers for Revenue, earlier tax payment dates for taxpayers and curtailment of existing tax reliefs such as the relief on fees paid for third level education. Such important matters should not be imposed upon the citizens of this country without adequate debate.
A Finance Bill which is to be passed in short order should only contain those matters already dealt with in the Financial Resolutions voted on in the Dáil on Budget Night. Any new matters should be dealt with in a further Finance Act, properly debated, at a later stage.