Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 11, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following:
“3. The Minister shall, within one month of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on options on introducing a third rate of tax payable at 48 per cent on income over €100,000.”

This wording looks at the impact of a third rate of tax. We have been calling on the Minister to introduce a third rate of tax for a long time and now we have one anyway, given how we are dealing with the USC. Some people will be paying 52% and some people will be paying 51% marginal rates of tax, and then we have the self-employed as well. This proposal seeks to make the tax rate more progressive with a third rate of tax of 48% on incomes above €100,000. It is an issue that I have debated many times at this committee and I am not going to go over old ground again. I wish to put it down as a marker as I believe it is something we should be looking at. We see what is happening in society. The issue of homelessness was raised in the Dáil today and there are high levels of poverty and people in great need in society. It all has to be paid for somehow. There is only so much extra that can be put on a packet of cigarettes or a litre of diesel. For those who have the most, if they see their money spent wisely and prudently, I do not think a measure like this would be overly onerous on them.