The tax exemption limit for childminders is to be increased from €10,000 to €15,000 to encourage a greater uptake of the relief, according to Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen.
Introducing the Finance Bill, which gives effect to the provisions of the Budget, Mr Cowen told the Dáil that rather than extending tax reliefs to "all sorts of projects as happened in the past, we now have a rational, measured approach with appropriate caps on how far those reliefs can be exploited".
He insisted that there was "a case for targeted, productive, job-giving reliefs where they can be shown to deliver for the taxpayer".
A number of loopholes were being closed off including the "abuse of the rent-a-room exemption scheme, so that the exemption will not apply where an adult child pays the rent to a parent for staying in the parental home".
Fine Gael's finance spokesman Richard Bruton said he was still concerned at the level of tax write-offs "that we allow certain individuals who can manage the various schemes". He said the Minister was increasing the threshold for the Business Expansion Scheme, which was among the better examples because it was based on risk rather that property. But he said the Minister "still allows someone, depending on his or her age, to put up to €100,000 into a pension scheme, with a tax subsidy of €40,000 or so provided on that pension each year."
Joan Burton, Labour's finance spokeswoman, focused on climate change and said that "pollute now, pay later" was the underlying message of "this Fianna Fáil Bill". She criticised the Minister for "doing little to provide leadership to change the mindset of carbon polluters at an industry or personal level".
Tax reliefs for stud horses would result in "Sinbad the superstud" horse crossing the Border the way Daisy the cow did during the controversy over beef, the Dáil heard.
Green Party finance spokesman Dan Boyle criticised the retention of tax relief for stud horses, while Sinn Féin's finance spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin accused the Minister of "redistributing wealth regressively in favour of the already wealthy".
