Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will deal with the Deputy's queries in reverse order. We will have to learn the lessons from the two different wage subsidy schemes that we brought in. I believe there are elements of those wage subsidy schemes that will become more permanent features of where we will be in the future. I am not saying a wage subsidy scheme would always be "on" and operational but we will have to reflect on the possibility that we would have tools such as that which would be quickly available. For me, in comparing what happened in Germany and Ireland, the speed of a response of a tool such as that makes a big difference to keeping jobs. We moved with extraordinary speed to implement the TWSS, and I thank Deputy Nash and other Deputies who facilitated us in doing that over a long day and night in the Dáil. However, if something like that had been available a couple of weeks earlier or a week earlier, it might have made a difference to the lives of thousands of people. When we get through this particular phase of living with Covid-19, I want to think about how something such as this would be available to this and future Governments so that we would be able to quickly turn it on with a speed that we could not do at that time. I would say, however, that I am not sure it will offer the panacea the Deputy is looking for in relation to particular parts of our society and country. This scheme has proven its ability to work effectively for the PAYE sector, whereas many of the citizens to whom the Deputy is referring are self-employed. That is at the heart of some of the difficulties that we have and that I have debated with other members of the committee.

I am aware that IFAC's view on the multi-annual stimulus is that it is necessary. I would be cautious, however, about putting a figure on that multi-annual stimulus at this point in time because it is one thing to try to get the level of stimulus that is needed for 2021 right, but another thing to make decisions at the end of 2020 about what could be needed in 2022 or 2023. Those are big decisions to make. I fully anticipate that we will need to continue to provide levels of stimulus for a while yet. What those levels of stimulus will be will only become obvious when we get nearer the point in time in which we need to make it available. IFAC's advice that I need to have a multi-annual stimulus available can equally be critical if I find myself in a given year in which the level of stimulus is too high. Although it will never be too high for those who are benefiting from it or who need it, it could well be too high in the eyes of IFAC.

On the matter of a wealth tax, no such measure will be presented in a week and a half. We have an array of different taxes such as capital gains tax. The way local property tax is implemented makes a big difference to the progressivity of our tax code. The Deputy referred to some effective wealth taxes in other countries. It appears to me that wealth taxes in other countries lead to wealth moving or to tax advisers and solicitors being paid well for advising their clients on those taxes. The figures from the CSO that the Deputy has mentioned also showed that the relative share of net wealth held by the top 10% of households in our country has decreased since 2013. The decrease in Ireland was bigger than that in other eurozone countries, which points to the fact that between our direct and indirect taxes, we have effective ways of taxing wealth.

I am always open to getting the views of the committee regarding how these things can be done differently.