Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said to Deputy Peadar Toibín, Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett is at liberty to argue the case and put forward proposals to the electorate. I just disagree with him, but I am also pointing to the difficulties in his construction. We have wealth taxes - capital taxes - and they are imposed at high rates. If one transfers property or anything else to somebody else, there is gift tax at a rate of 33%, with very low thresholds. On inheritance, one pays at a rate of 33%, with very low thresholds, particularly if one is not in the direct line of descent. There is also the property tax, to which I referred on a number of occasions.

I do not understand socialism in Ireland. If one was to search the world, one would not find a group describing itself as socialist that refused to tax property. I do not get it. The Deputy requested that we not tax property. The property tax is on all property, but the Deputy will not tax the big mansions in which those against whom he targets most of his rhetoric live. They comprise the wealthy, multimillionaires or those with all of the wealth he describes so graphically, but he opposes me when I tax big mansions. I hope to convert him as time passes. At least Deputy Paul Murphy has now paid his property tax, which is an advancement on what has happened. He probably has a date in 2017 with a circle around it on the calendar on which he will pay his water charges.

I do not understand Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett's position and I am forced into wondering whether, for populist reasons, he is afraid to tax property. I wonder why he would not do the simple thing and tax property. He opposes doing so. The party the members of which are beside him proposes to remove property tax when it gets into power, yet property tax is a tax on fixed assets. All wealth taxes are on assets. The most effective wealth taxes, if there are effective wealth taxes, are on fixed assets. The proposal from the Deputy is that family homes, including mansions, be exempt. According to Sinn Féin, land would be exempt. What fixed assets are left? One could tax liquid assets such as cash in the bank, but DIRT is paid on them already. For how long does the Deputy believe the money would stay in the Irish banks if one was to levy a tax on it at a rate of 2.5% or 3%? For how long does he believe there would be share transactions in the Irish Stock Exchange if share capital value were to be levied on the basis of his belief that it constituted wealth? What is his position on pension funds? I placed a levy on pension funds to provide me with the resources to reduce the rate of VAT in the hospitality sector from 13.5% to 9%. I introduced it as a temporary measure, but there was outrage among the Opposition. It was opposed to left, right and centre and I was told I could not do it. It was an effective wealth tax, but, again, it was opposed.

The Deputy is against every wealth tax, except some mythical one that applies to very little or assets that will move. He should go back to the drawing board and come up with realistic propositions. Sinn Féin is seeking to exempt so much from the wealth tax it proposes that I do not know exactly to what wealth it would apply. I notice that it did not exempt farmyards, although it exempted land. Dairy farmers would need to look out for this because bulk tanks, equipment and machinery constitute quite a lot of wealth on a farm. Now that I have mentioned it, I suppose another exemption will be proposed when the wealth tax is refined.

I disagree with what the Deputy is doing. He does not propose the obvious steps such as building on the wealth taxes we have and supporting a property tax such as the one in place. He should agree with a levy on pension funds such as the one we had, although I removed it completely. That gave me the resources I needed to do a good job for the tourism industry, yet the Deputy keeps talking about a wealth tax that would bring in hundreds of millions of euro. He will not do the obvious.