Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's point is that it is not possible to differentiate between development land and non-development land, which was the focus of my amendment. The capital gains tax, CGT, exemption would apply if an owner held on to the land for seven years, but under this Bill he or she will be able to dispose of it after four years and still avail of the exemption. I think that reduction in timeframe should only be available in respect of disposals which we know will result in development. However, the Minister has responded that no such differentiation can be made, which is fair enough. It being the case that this measure will apply to all land whether it has development potential or not, why are buildings included? I refer members to the case of the hotel purchased in 2003. As things stand, if the owners of properties purchased between the 2011 and 2014 window, be that an office block, a shopping centre and so on, propose to sell next year because they need to raise capital for other business ventures etc., and the uplift on their properties is €500 million, they would have to pay approximately €165 million in taxes, but following the implementation of this measure they will pay nothing in terms of capital gains tax.