End of 36 year stud tax break

THE bloodstock industry and its 16,500 jobs, mostly in rural areas, will decline if the best stallions no longer retire to stud in Ireland, warned Dermot Cantillon, chairman of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

His warning came after Finance Minister Brian Cowen announced the 36-year-old tax-free status of income from stallions (and greyhounds) is to end on July 31, 2008.

The minister said his officials will enter discussions with the European Commission, with a view to introducing a new taxation regime appropriate to the equine industry.