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

Indeed. While I never really expected that the Minister would take on board the wealth tax or our more far-reaching proposals on corporate tax, this is one that should be considered. This amendment seeks to have a report prepared, and ultimately implemented, on getting rid of the tax on the family home and replacing it with a tax on multiple properties.

This amendment makes a distinction, which the Government wilfully refuses to make when we discuss wealth because it wants to collapse the distinction between those who own family homes and people who own two, three, four, five, ten, 15, 20, 30, 50 or 100 properties. There is a world of difference between those two types of property owners. The family home, by and large, is not an asset to generate wealth for the people who live in it. It is a roof to put over their heads when access to housing is a concern for people, particularly when we are in the teeth of a housing crisis, although it always has been a concern for people. There is a distinction between that and people who rent out properties and profit from doing so. This amendment proposes a property tax that excludes the family home but imposes a €1,000 tax on a second home, €1,500 per home if one has three to ten homes and €2,500 per home if one has ten or more.

When we consider the enormous rents being charged and the inflation in property values, to which Deputy Nash referred, which is part of the rise in household wealth - although it is also financial, something to which I pointed - that concentration of wealth where it has grown exponentially constitutes serious wealth for people who have two, five, ten, 15 or 20 homes. Those people are making money by virtue of the fact that they own many properties. We are proposing a very modest measure to remove the regressive burden on people who may have low incomes and are paying property tax on the value of their principal private residences and to replace it with a tax on second or further homes on an escalating basis depending on how much property one owns. According to our costing of this proposal based on the ready reckoner the Department provides, if implemented, it would raise the money to cover the loss in revenue on foot of the removal of the current property tax levied on family homes.