Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 10, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following:

“Report on the treatment of cohabitants under the Taxes Acts 3.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the treatment of cohabitants under the Taxes Acts with regard to the differences in the taxation of a married couple and a cohabiting couple.”.

I will be brief as the Minister is familiar with the arguments. My amendment concerns the tax treatment of cohabiting couples and is an issue that I raised last year. As we know, there are implications for cohabiting couples, so couples who are not married or are not civil partners, in the context of the tax code. I am sure that the Minister will be familiar with the social welfare implications as well and the work that my colleague, Deputy Alan Kelly, has done on this, and the recent court case on the pension entitlements for widows and widowers. This is a very complex policy area and a complex area of law. My preference would have been, as I said last year, that the Tax and Welfare Commission might have looked at this issue. I had it in my own submission, so to the best of my recollection, I asked the commission to look at the matter but it decided not to do so. I ask the Minister to consider my amendment. I ask him to consider what options may be available to us in terms of the tax code and the social welfare system, albeit that that system is not an issue for the Minister present. However, this is certainly an issue for the tax code in terms of the 300 cohabiting couples in terms of the Taxes Act respecting and understanding the diversity of family formation in modern society.