Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is making an argument for deferral of the property tax in this regard. I do not disagree with what the Deputy is saying. There is potential for more here. I see this as a kind of widening of the tax base as well. If we are serious about the employment side, we must look at every other form of taxation to keep the 1.8 million who are working at work, and more.

Yesterday the Minister spoke here about how the asset values of properties have been severely diminished over the past number of years. We hope to see a sustainable construction and property industry in the future and presumably the amount we will take in through these taxes will increase. I understand there was a significant increase in 2002, when the rate went up by 5% and there was a reduction in the group A thresholds of approximately €40 million. That is a significant amount of money. We will look at all these tax heads in trying to construct next year's budget. I believe this is a much fairer tax increase than a tax on income.