I move:—
1. That the several enactments specified in the Schedule to this Resolution shall be repealed as and from the 1st day of April, 1935, to the extent mentioned in the third column of that Schedule.
2. That every exemption from stamp duty arising under any enactment (whether public, general, local or private) by virtue of the incorporation, application, or extension by such enactment of any of the enactments to be repealed in pursuance of this Resolution shall cease to have effect as on and from the 1st day of April, 1935.
3. That every instrument or other document bearing date as of or after the 1st day of April, 1935, which would, but for this Resolution, have been exempt from stamp duty by virtue of an enactment to be repealed or of an exemption to cease in pursuance of this Resolution shall be chargeable with stamp duty under the appropriate provision of the Stamp Act, 1891.
SCHEDULE.
Session and Chapter |
Short Title |
Extent of Repeal |
6 & 7 Will. IV, c. 116. |
Grand Jury (Ireland) Act, 1836. |
Section 168, to the words “mentioned therein.” |
1 & 2 Vic., c. 53. |
County Treasurers (Ireland) Act, 1838. |
Section 1. |
1 & 2 Vic., c. 56. |
Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1838. |
Section 96. |
7 & 8 Vic., c. 106. |
County Dublin Grand Jury Act, 1844. |
Section 148, to the words “mentioned therein.” |
9 & 10 Vic., c. 60. |
Grand Jury Cess Act, 1846. |
The whole Act. |
42 & 43 Vic., c. 25. |
Dispensary Houses (Ireland) Act, 1879. |
Section 14. |
This Resolution is designed to remedy a serious leakage of revenue, and to remove anomalies in the administration of the stamp duty law in its application to local authorities. Under the provisions of the Act of 1838 and certain other Acts relating to local administration, certain documents such as road contracts, executed by local authorities in connection with local government administration, are treated as being exempt from stamp duty. Originally the only documents which were exempt were those relating to funds in regard to poor law relief and such cognate purposes; but, owing to administrative action and the statutory application of poor rate machinery to the collection of other rates, the exemption has been extended far beyond the limit originally intended. For instance, the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1930, applied the poor rate machinery to the collection of Dublin and Dun Laoghaire rates, and a claim by the Dublin Corporation for exemption from stamp duty on these rates was upheld by the High Court and the Appeal Court. More recently, it has been extended to the collection of rates under the management of the City of Limerick Act of last year. There is no reason why these three bodies should be in a privileged position as compared with other local authorities. There is no reason why documents of one local authority more than any other should be generally exempt. It is, therefore, proposed under this Resolution that in future stamp duty shall be paid by all local authorities in the same way as other bodies of persons.