Present Irish Questions Part 16

(2) The duties of Customs and Excise and the duties on postage shall be imposed by Act of Parliament, but subject to the provisions of this Act the Irish Legislature may, in order to provide for the public service of Ireland, impose any other taxes.

(3) Save as in this Act mentioned, all matters relating to the taxes in Ireland and the collection and management thereof shall be regulated by Irish Act, and the same shall be collected and managed by the Irish Government, and from part of the public revenues of Ireland: Provided that--

(_a_) The duties of Customs shall be regulated, collected, managed, and paid into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom as heretofore; and

(_b_) All prohibitions in connection with the duties of Excise, and so far as regards articles sent out of Ireland, all matters relating to those duties, shall be regulated by Act of Parliament; and

(_c_) The excise duties on articles consumed in Great Britain shall be paid in Great Britain, or to an officer of the Government of the United Kingdom.

(4) Save as in this Act mentioned, all the public revenues of Ireland shall be paid into the Irish Exchequer and form a Consolidated Fund, and be appropriated to the public service of Ireland by Irish Act.

(5) If the duties of Excise are increased above the rates in force on the _first day of March one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three_ the net proceeds in Ireland of the duties in excess of the said rates shall be paid from the Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.

(6) If the duties of Excise are reduced below the rates in force on the said day, and the net proceeds of such duties in Ireland are in consequence less than the net proceeds of the duties before the reduction, a sum equal to the deficiency shall, unless it is otherwise agreed between the Treasury and the Irish Government, be paid from the Exchequer of the United Kingdom to the Irish Exchequer.

[Sidenote: Hereditary revenues and income tax.]

=11.=--(1) The hereditary revenues of the Crown in Ireland which are managed by the Commissioners of Woods shall continue during the life of Her present Majesty to be managed and collected by those Commissioners, and the net amount payable by them to the Exchequer on account of those revenues, after deducting all expenses (but including an allowance for interest on such proceeds of the sale of those revenues as have not been re-invested in Ireland), shall be paid into the Treasury Account (Ireland) hereinafter mentioned, for the benefit of the Irish Exchequer.

(2) A person shall not be required to pay income tax in Great Britain in respect of property situate or business carried on in Ireland, and a person shall not be required to pay income tax in Ireland in respect of property situate or business carried on in Great Britain.

(3) For the purpose of giving to Ireland the benefit of the difference between the income tax collected in Great Britain from British, Colonial, and foreign securities held by residents in Ireland, and the income tax collected in Ireland from Irish securities held by residents in Great Britain, there shall be made to Ireland out of the income tax collected in Great Britain, an allowance of such amount as may be from time to time determined by the Treasury, in accordance with a minute of the Treasury, laid before Parliament before the appointed day, and such allowance shall be paid into the Treasury Account (Ireland) for the benefit of the Irish Exchequer.

(4) Provided that the provisions of this section with respect to income tax shall not apply to any excess of the rate of income tax in Great Britain above the rate in Ireland or of the rate of income tax in Ireland above the rate in Great Britain.

[Sidenote: Financial arrangements as between United Kingdom and Ireland.]

=12.=--(1) The duties of Customs contributed by Ireland and, save as provided by this Act, that portion of any public revenue of the United Kingdom to which Ireland may claim to be ent.i.tled, whether specified in the Third Schedule to this Act or not, shall be carried to the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, as the contribution of Ireland to Imperial liabilities and expenditure as defined in that Schedule.

(2) The civil charges of the Government in Ireland shall, subject as in this Act mentioned, be borne after the appointed day by Ireland.

(3) After _fifteen_ years from the pa.s.sing of this Act the arrangements made by this Act for the contribution of Ireland to Imperial liabilities and expenditure, and otherwise for the financial relations between the United Kingdom and Ireland, may be revised in pursuance of an address to Her Majesty from the House of Commons, or from the Irish Legislative a.s.sembly.

[Sidenote: Treasury Account (Ireland)]

=13.=--(1) There shall be established under the direction of the Treasury an account (in this Act referred to as the Treasury Account (Ireland)).

(2) There shall be paid into such account all sums payable from the Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, or from the latter to the former Exchequer, and all sums directed to be paid into the account for the benefit of either of the said Exchequers.

(3) All sums which are payable from either of the said Exchequers to the other of them, or being payable out of one of the said Exchequers are repayable by the other Exchequer, shall in the first instance be payable out of the said account so far as the money standing on the account is sufficient; and for the purpose of meeting such sums the Treasury out of the Customs revenue collected in Ireland, and the Irish Government out of any of the public revenues in Ireland, may direct money to be paid to the Treasury Account (Ireland) instead of into the Exchequer.

(4) Any surplus standing on the account to the credit of either Exchequer, and not required for meeting payments, shall at convenient times be paid into that Exchequer, and where any sum so payable in to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom is required by law to be forthwith paid to the National Debt Commissioners, that sum may be paid to those Commissioners without being paid into the Exchequer.

(5) All sums payable by virtue of this Act out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom or of Ireland shall be payable from the Exchequer of the United Kingdom or of Ireland shall be payable from the Exchequer of the United Kingdom or Ireland, as the case may be, within the meaning of this Act, and all sums by this Act made payable from the Exchequer of the United Kingdom shall, if not otherwise paid, be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom.

[Sidenote: Charges on Irish Consolidated Fund.]

=14.=--(1) There shall be charged on the Irish Consolidated Fund in favour of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom as a first charge on sums which--

(_a_) Are payable to that Exchequer from the Irish Exchequer; or

[Sidenote: 54 & 55 Vict. c. 48.]

(_b_) Are required to repay to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom sums issued to meet the dividends or sinking fund or guaranteed land stock under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891: or

(_c_) Otherwise have been or are required to be paid out of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom in consequence of the non-payment thereof out of the Exchequer of Ireland or otherwise by the Irish Government.

(2) If at any time the Controller and Auditor-General of the United Kingdom is satisfied that any such charge is due, he shall certify the amount of it, and the Treasury shall send such certificate to the Lord-Lieutenant, who shall thereupon by order, without any counter-signature, direct the payment of the amount from the Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, and such order shall be duly obeyed by all persons, and until the amount is wholly paid no other payment shall be made out of the Irish Exchequer for any purpose whatever.

(3) There shall be charged on the Irish Consolidated Fund next after the foregoing charge--

[Sidenote: 54 & 55 Vict. c. 48.]

(_a_) All sums, for dividends or sinking fund on guaranteed land stock under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, which the Land Purchase Account and the Guarantee Fund under that Act are insufficient to pay;

(_b_) All sums due in respect of any debt incurred by the Government of Ireland, whether for interest management, or sinking fund;

(_c_) An annual sum of _five thousand pounds_ for the expenses of the household and establishment of the Lord-Lieutenant;

(_d_) All existing charges on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom in respect of Irish services other than the salary of the Lord-Lieutenant; and

(_e_) The salaries and pensions of all judges of the Supreme Court or other Superior Court in Ireland or of any County or other like Court, who are appointed after the pa.s.sing of this Act, and are not the Exchequer judges hereafter mentioned.

(4) Until all charges created by this Act upon the Irish Consolidated Fund and for the time being due are paid, no money shall be issued from the Irish Exchequer for any other purpose whatever.

[Sidenote: Irish Church Fund. 32 & 33 Vict. c. 42. 44 & 45 Vict. c. 71.]

=15.=--(1) All existing charges on the Church property in Ireland--that is to say, all property accruing under the Irish Church Act, 1869, and transferred to the Irish Land Commission by the Irish Church Amendment Act, 1881--shall so far as not paid out of the said property be charged on the Irish Consolidated Fund, and any of those charges guaranteed by the Treasury, if and so far as not paid, shall be paid out of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.

(2) Subject to the existing charges thereon, the said Church property shall belong to the Irish Government, and be managed, administered, and disposed of as directed by Irish Act.

[Sidenote: Local loans.]

=16.=--(1) All sums paid or applicable in or towards the discharge of the interest or princ.i.p.al of any local loan advanced before the appointed day on security in Ireland, or otherwise in respect of such loan, which but for this Act would be paid to the National Debt Commissioners, and carried to the Local Loans Fund, shall, after the appointed day, be paid, until otherwise provided by Irish Act, to the Irish Exchequer.

(2) For the payment of the Local Loans Fund of the princ.i.p.al and interest of such loans, the Irish Government shall after the appointed day pay by half-yearly payments an annuity for _forty-nine_ years, at the rate of _four_ per cent., on the princ.i.p.al of the said loans, exclusive of any sums written off before the appointed day from the account of a.s.sets of the Local Loans Fund, and such annuity shall be paid from the Irish Exchequer to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, and when so paid shall be forthwith paid to the National Debt Commissioners for the credit of the Local Loans Fund.

(3) After the appointed day, money for loans in Ireland shall cease to be advanced either by the Public Works Loan Commissioners or out of the Local Loans Fund.

[Sidenote: Adaptation of Acts as to Local Taxation Accounts and Probate, etc., duties. See 50 & 51 Vict. c. 41. 54 & 55 Vict. c. 48.]

=17.=--(1) So much of any Act as directs payment to the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account of any share of Probate, Excise, or Customs duties payable to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom shall, together with any enactment amending the same, be repealed as from the appointed day without prejudice to the adjustment of balances after that day; the like amounts shall continue to be paid to the Local Taxation Accounts in England and Scotland as would have been paid if this Act had not pa.s.sed, and any residue of the said share shall be paid into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.

[Sidenote: See 21 & 22 Vict. c. 86, ss. 12-18. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 95, s. 29.

22 & 23 Vict. c. 31, s. 25. 39 & 40 Vict. c. 70, ss. 41-44.]

(2) The stamp duty chargeable in respect of the personalty of a deceased person, shall not in the case of administration granted in Great Britain be chargeable in respect of any personalty situate in Ireland; nor in the case of administration granted in Ireland be chargeable in respect of any personalty situate in Great Britain; and any administration granted in Great Britain shall not, if re-sealed in Ireland, be exempt from stamp duty on administration granted in Ireland, and any administration granted in Ireland shall not, when re-sealed in Great Britain, be exempt from stamp duty on administration granted in Great Britain.