The Finance Bill did not have to go to the Dáil last night after the Seanad passed the Bill by 30 votes to 20 without accepting any Opposition amendments.
The closest vote was on bank bonuses when the three Green Party senators voted against the Government on the Labour Party recommendation seeking to identify all bank executives, employees and contractors who had received bonuses from State covered institutions since the bank guarantee was introduced in September 2008. The provision was defeated by 26 votes to 25.
Earlier, Senator David Norris withdrew a recommendation calling for all references in the Bill to spouses to include those in civil partnerships after Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said that the tax status provisions would apply retrospectively to couples in civil partnerships in legislation expected to be introduced in April.
Mr Lenihan renewed his criticism of the Greens' "extraordinary" constitutional view in effectively withdrawing from Government in November and said they would receive the "judgment of history".
Green Party chairman Dan Boyle defended his party's record and said it was "the right thing to do". He said the passage of the Finance Bill meant the Opposition could avoid a "lot of the heavy lifting" if they formed the next Government and they should acknowledge that if not before the election, then afterwards.
The Seanad cannot make amendments to a "money" Bill but can make recomendations. Since none were accepted the Dáil did not have to be recalled to deal with the legislation.
The Seanad is now adjourned "sine die" or indefinitely and the Dáil will reconvene on Tuesday when Taoiseach Brian Cowen is expected to announce its dissolution and the date of the election. This is expected to be Friday February 25th but the last possible date is Wednesday March 2nd.
Earlier yesterday, the Government won its first vote in the Seanad on the committee stage debate.
It defeated by 29 to 24 votes a Labour Party recommendation that within a month of the legislation being passed a cost-benefit analysis would be carried out of tax expenditure and the job creation benefits arising from the Act.
Labour spokesman Alex White said the measure was not a move against tax reliefs but an assessment of the benefit to the Exchequer and the tax foregone by the taxpayer.
Loopholes in the tax system should be looked at, he said, because "all sorts of imagination" was being used to avoid tax.
Mr Norris (Independent) said that one month would be a short time for such an assessment. He was concerned that tax reliefs could be "managed by clever accountants to do things that were never intended to".
Seanad leader Donie Cassidy said before a scheme was even completed the Exchequer benefited to the tune of 40 per cent through PAYE, PRSI and Vat on schemes. An investment of €10 million in a hotel or leisure facilities immediately resulted in €4 million benefit to the taxpayer.