Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 31:

In page 30, after line 40, to insert the following:

“Income volatility for the farming sector

19.The Minister shall within three months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the feasibility of introducing further tax provisions and stabilisation tools to deal with income volatility for farm enterprises both in terms of income tax and corporation tax.”.

This amendment relates to the important issue of income volatility in the farming sector. In recent years, some provision has been made in the taxation code to recognise the extreme difficulty farmers face because of the uncertainty around their income, in particular commodity prices, milk prices and so on. We now have an income averaging system which allows taxable profit to be averaged over a five-year period. There was a further enhancement last year in respect of an opt-out scheme of income averaging for a particularly poor year.

We are all aware of the variables, not least the weather, which affect the farming sector. A number of farming organisations brought forward specific proposals to go further in regard to income stability measures. They were considered by the Minister, but he was not minded to include them in the budget. He has given a commitment, as part of an overall review of agri-tax, to re-examine this issue. We are asking for a report on the options to determine how we can further improve income stability measures for the farming sector.

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