Next (SCHEDULE.)

24 1952

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Number 24 of 1952.


FINANCE (EXCISE DUTIES) (VEHICLES) ACT, 1952.


ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section

1.

Excise duties in respect of mechanically propelled vehicles used on public roads.

2.

Change of user.

3.

Application of Roads Act, 1920.

4.

Excise duty in respect of driving licences under Road Traffic Act, 1933.

5.

Increase of yearly rates of excise duties in respect of trade licences.

6.

Short title.

SCHEDULE.

Excise Duties in respect of Mechanically Propelled Vehicles used on Public Roads.


Acts Referred to

Finance Act, 1926

No. 35 of 1926

Road Traffic Act, 1933

No. 11 of 1933

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Number 24 of 1952.


FINANCE (EXCISE DUTIES) (VEHICLES) ACT, 1952.


AN ACT TO CHARGE AND IMPOSE CERTAIN DUTIES OF EXCISE IN RESPECT OF MECHANICALLY PROPELLED VEHICLES USED ON PUBLIC ROADS AND IN RESPECT OF DRIVING LICENCES UNDER THE ROAD TRAFFIC ACT, 1933 , AND TO PROVIDE FOR MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE MATTERS AFORESAID. [13th December, 1952.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

Excise duties in respect of mechanically propelled vehicles used on public roads.

1. —(1) On and after the 1st day of January, 1953, there shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be charged, levied and paid in respect of mechanically propelled vehicles used on public roads duties of excise at the rates specified in the Schedule to this Act.

(2) (a) Subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, the duties charged under this section shall be paid annually upon licences to be taken out by the person keeping the vehicle.

(b) A licence may be taken out in respect of a vehicle (not being a tramcar or a vehicle on which a duty of five shillings is chargeable) for such periods of the year and on payment of duty at such rates as the Minister for Local Government may by regulations prescribe, but—

(i) a rate of duty so prescribed shall be such as to bear to the full annual duty no less proportion than the period of the licence bears to a year, and

(ii) the rate of duty so prescribed for a licence for a vehicle for one quarter of the year only shall not exceed thirty per cent. of the full annual duty.

(3) For the purposes of any rate of duty specified in the Schedule to this Act, the following shall be calculated in accordance with regulations made by the Minister for Local Government:

(a) the cylinder capacity of an engine,

(b) the horse-power of a vehicle,

(c) the seating capacity of a vehicle.

(4) Duty under this section shall not be charged or levied in respect of any of the following vehicles:

(a) refuse carts, sweeping machines or watering machines used exclusively for cleansing public streets and roads,

(b) ambulances road-rollers or fire engines

(c) vehicles kept by a local authority and used exclusively for the purpose of their fire brigade service,

(d) vehicles which are used exclusively for the transport (whether by carriage or traction) of road construction machinery used for no purpose other than the construction or repair of roads,

(e) vehicles which are used exclusively for the transport (whether by carriage or traction) of lifeboats and their gear or any equipment for affording assistance towards the preservation of life and property in cases of shipwreck and distress at sea.

(5) A vehicle which is used for the purpose specified in paragraph (d) of subsection (4) of this section shall not become liable to a higher rate of duty by reason of such user.

(6) Paragraph (d) of subsection (4) and subsection (5) of this section shall have effect only where the vehicle or trailer (as the case may be) is constructed or adapted for use for the conveyance of road construction machinery built in as part of such vehicle or trailer or otherwise permanently attached thereto and is not constructed or adapted for the conveyance of any other load except articles or material used for the purpose of the road construction machinery.

(7) A vehicle which is used for the purpose specified in paragraph (e) of subsection (4) of this section shall not become liable to a higher rate of duty by reason of such user.

(8) The Minister for Local Government may by regulations provide for the total or partial exemption for a limited period from the duty under this section of any vehicle brought into the State by a person making only a temporary stay therein.

(9) The duty under this section is in lieu of the duty under section 13 of the Finance Act, 1920, and the latter duty shall accordingly cease to be charged as from the 1st day of January, 1953.

(10) The provisions made under subsection (5) of section 13 of the Finance Act, 1920, and section 22 of the Finance Act, 1921, shall, until corresponding provisions are made under this Act, apply to the duty under this section.

(11) In this section “quarter” means any of the following parts of a year, namely, the period beginning with the 1st day of January and ending with the 24th day of March, the period beginning with the 25th day of March and ending with the 30th day of June, the three months beginning with the 1st day of July, and the three months beginning with the 1st day of October.

(12) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

Change of user.

2. —(1) Where—

(a) a licence under section 1 of this Act is in force,

(b) the vehicle is used in a condition or manner or for a purpose which would, if it was used solely in that condition or manner or for that purpose, render it chargeable with duty at a rate higher than that at which duty has been paid, and

(c) the vehicle as so used is in all other respects a vehicle chargeable with duty at the higher rate,

duty shall become and be chargeable on the vehicle at the higher rate.

(2) Where a person so uses a vehicle that duty becomes chargeable in accordance with this section at a higher rate, the person shall, unless duty has been paid at the higher rate before the commencement of such user, be guilty of an offence and be liable on summary conviction to an excise penalty of (whichever is the greater) twenty pounds or three times the difference between the duty paid and duty at the higher rate.

(3) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in any enactment relating to the recovery or application of excise penalties, any penalty under this section may be recovered and enforced at the suit of any member of the Garda Síochána, and in that case the Court shall have power to mitigate the penalty to such amount as the Court may in its discretion think fit, and the licensing authority shall not have power to mitigate the penalty.

(4) Sums paid into the Exchequer in respect of penalties under this section shall, for the purpose of section 2 of the Roads Act, 1920, be deemed to have been paid into the Exchequer under that Act.

Application of Roads Act, 1920.

3. —(1) On and after the 1st day of January, 1953, the Roads Act, 1920, as amended and extended by subsequent enactments, and the orders and regulations thereunder in force immediately before that date shall apply in relation to the duties under section 1 of this Act in like manner as they applied in relation to the duties under section 13 of the Finance Act, 1920, and for that purpose references therein to any provision relating to the latter duties shall be construed as references to the corresponding provision of this Act.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall be construed as affecting the power to amend or revoke the orders and regulations applied by that subsection.

Excise duty in respect of driving licences under Road Traffic Act, 1933.

4. —(1) There shall be charged, levied and paid on and by every person who on or after the 23rd day of October, 1952, takes out a driving licence under the Road Traffic Act, 1933 (No. 11 of 1933), an excise duty of one pound.

(2) The duty under this section shall be charged, levied and paid on the taking out of the licence and shall be collected by and paid to the licensing authority and shall be paid by that authority into the Exchequer in accordance with such directions as may from time to time be given by the Minister for Finance.

(3) For the purpose of levying the duty under this section, a licensing authority shall have within their county or county borough the same powers, duties and liabilities as the Revenue Commissioners and their officers have with respect to duties of excise, and the enactments relating to duties of excise and to punishments and to penalties in connection therewith shall apply accordingly.

(4) Sums paid into the Exchequer and penalties recovered pursuant to this section shall, for the purpose of section 2 of the Roads Act, 1920, be deemed to have been paid into the Exchequer under that Act.

(5) The duty under this section is in lieu of the duty under section 21 of the Finance Act, 1926 (No. 35 of 1926), and the latter duty shall accordingly cease to be charged as from the 23rd day of October, 1952.

Increase of yearly rates of excise duties in respect of trade licences.

5. —Subsection (2) of section 15 of the Finance Act, 1922 (which specifies the yearly rates of duties of excise in respect of licences for manufacturers and repairers of, and dealers in, mechanically propelled vehicles) shall, as applied by section 3 of this Act and notwithstanding the terms of that section, have effect—

(i) with the substitution in paragraph (a) of “thirty-seven pounds ten shillings” for “twenty-five pounds”,

(ii) with the substitution in paragraph (a) and in paragraph (b) of “seven pounds ten shillings” for “five pounds”, and

(iii) with the substitution in paragraph (b) of “one pound ten shillings” for “one pound”.

Short title.

6. —This Act may be cited as the Finance (Excise Duties) (Vehicles) Act, 1952.