Accountants warn against hasty passage
Chartered Accountants Ireland believes that rushing through the Finance Bill 2011 in the time being proposed by both the Government and opposition will result in bad tax legislation.
In a statement, the CAI said that the proposed timeframe will result in the normal process being truncated, possibly down to an 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.”
The association pointed out that tax reliefs are altered by the measures in the bill and pension changes are also included. But it also stressed the importance that many of the changes form part of the EU/IMF package.
“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 citizens without adequate debate.”
The association added that 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.
