I call on the Government to urgently address the anomaly that exists with the current taxation system in respect of capital acquisitions tax when applied to partners in comparison to married couples. Current legislation means that a partner, even a lifetime partner, is regarded as a stranger for capital acquisitions tax purposes. Therefore, the current threshold limit of €20,000 applies and anything over that amount is taxed at 33% whereas married couples are tax exempt. Partners are now entitled to a survivor's pension if they have been living together for at least five years, or two years if they have children. This arose from a court case where it was found that to deny the survivor's pension would be unconstitutional. In another recent case, a civil servant passed away and his partner was refused the widow's portion of his civil servant pension, as they were not married. This was also unconstitutional. Contrast this with the current taxation system whereby partners are treated as strangers for capital acquisitions tax purposes. This is wide open to constitutional challenge to-----

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-----the current legislation and needs to be addressed by the Minister for Finance.

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