Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to comment on amendment No. 69, the proposal to have a risk assessment of the sustainability of stamp duty receipts. At the beginning of the debate on the Finance Bill I said I was shocked that this increase in stamp duty was leaked.

It was leaked very comprehensively in all of the main national newspapers, particularly on the weekend before the budget, in a way that I have never seen with a tax measure before. The Minister for Finance suggested in his response that this was perhaps a method for getting a feeling for how the sector would react to this proposal. If there was in fact private information circulating beforehand, however, this means that a great many avoidance measures were undertaken back in the days before the measure came into effect. This further means that people who were not in this golden circle of potential recipients of information will have lost out on the double. When it comes to developing tax policy, this is extremely unfair. It is unfair to the person in a rural smallholding who did not have the information that this was about to come down the tracks. It is also unfair to the business that may have been undertaking an ordinary business transaction as it would not have had that advance information either. This information was, however, clearly shared with and broadcast to the so-called players in the property market. Any report on this should look at this matter because tax information released before the applicable date is of course enormously valuable information for deals that are in the pipeline. I know that the Minster was annoyed that this issue was raised, but it has been a fundamental principle of Irish tax policy for a very long time that there be no such circle of people with access to prior information on the details of the budget. It is important, then, that this be examined.

I come to second point. There was clearly a surge in property deals last year because of various deals that were undertaken and legitimate questions have been raised over whether or not that surge will continue. As this is the very pillar holding up the budget's arithmetic, we need to know the truth about the likely revenue outcomes from this tax. The whole manner in which this deal was conducted strongly indicates that there are within the circle of this current Government some people with more access to information than others.