ICT Ireland Calls For Tax Break To Increase PC Penetration

by Jason Gorringe, for LawAndTax-News.com, London

09 November 2004

IT industry body, ICT Ireland has urged Finance Minister Brian Cowen to include a tax break designed to encourage computer use in Irish homes and schools in his debut budget.

Explaining that:

"There is an increasing awareness that lack of access to ICT is creating new social divisions in our society and, in particular, among our young people," the body revealed that in Ireland, PC penetration in the home is 42.3%, compared with 54% in Sweden, 55% in Norway and 82% in the US.

"By providing access to and use of technology in the home and through our education system, we can ensure that all citizens progress in the knowledge society," ICT Ireland recently announced, adding that to this end, it is proposing that the Irish Government provide a tax break to encourage the purchase of personal computers for the home to act as an incentive to grow Internet and home PC usage.

"This approach has proven to be successful in other jurisdictions such as the UK and Sweden," the organisation explained, continuing:

"Under the UK's Home Computing Initiative (HCI) proposition, employees can be offered PC packages with more than 50% discount compared to the equivalent retail price. This initiative has proven to increase Internet usage and PC penetration in the home. A similar type of scheme is encouraged to be adopted in Ireland."

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