Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Does Mr. Coffey accept, as I think everybody does, that we have an enormous housing crisis? Apart from the social impact, it is now a macroeconomic problem and threat. If one does not have affordable accommodation, it becomes a problem for economic growth. It is now a serious disincentive for those who have left this country, including graduates, to come back and it may be a reason for starting to see a significant outflow of school and college leavers who simply cannot afford to live here. Does Mr. Coffey acknowledge it is a macroeconomic problem that must be addressed as a matter of urgency? Added to that, we have a major infrastructure deficit in other areas, including broadband, public transport, education and so on. Is it his job to comment on that and does he acknowledge those facts and the need to address them urgently? If so, is the fiscal space we are talking about sufficient to begin to address those problems in a serious way? Certainly, I do not think that €500 million can even touch the infrastructure deficit and housing problem before us. If he accepts those propositions, does Mr. Coffey have thoughts about what we should do given that he seems to think we should not borrow in a pro-cyclical way, which may be unsustainable, to increase expenditure to deal with those issues? It only leaves one option if the first two propositions are accepted, which is that we must raise additional revenue to expand the fiscal space. In other words, more tax must come in. That is the only sustainable way to do it within the fiscal constraints. I ask him to comment on all that. If it is true, must we not look forensically at where we can get extra revenue?

That brings me to Mr. Coffey's report on corporate tax, which I accept is not a report of the fiscal council. While I do not agree with all of the recommendations, which fail to go far enough, page 120 is very revealing and could help to answer some of the questions I have just posed and which are posed to the economy. I am surprised that the following has not been stated and someone should comment on it. I would like Mr. Coffey to do so. Corporate profits have increased by 100% in the last six years; that is, from €70 billion to €144 billion in gross trading profits. Does Mr. Coffey agree that by any definition, it is a spectacular increase in profits at a time when we are arguing with a miserable little bit of fiscal space, which is not enough to address our infrastructure needs? Do we not need to look at that? Why is Mr. Coffey not commenting on it? Even DKM came here yesterday and said there was €23 billion in tax expenditures, mostly in the form of allowances and breaks for the corporates, which we need to look at. Is it sensible that we are giving out what DKM estimates is €23 billion when Mr. Coffey shows, for example, there was €66 billion in 2015 in allowances for the corporate sector? They are making €149 billion in gross profits and another €12 billion in other income, a lot of which is probably rental income for vulture funds. Do we not need to look at this?

Would Mr. Coffey accept that the effective corporate tax rate, however one defines it, is falling? When one looks at the figures over the last number of years, we are not even close to the 12.5%. Whatever way one defines it, it is reducing. We need to look at that and seriously tighten up on it. That is a black hole in the public finances which, if we plugged it, could give us the revenues we need for the housing investment.