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

We would end up in a situation where fewer properties would pay more tax, which is the very kind of concentration risk we get warned about all the time. We are continually advised that it is better to have more taxpayers and tax units all making a contribution. Yet again, what Deputies Boyd Barrett and Mairéad Farrell are proposing is a narrowing of our tax base. In the circumstances in which this tax is being proposed, three things could happen. First, the property owner could pay the higher rate of tax on the non-family home the Deputy refers to. Second, the property owner could pass as much of that as possible on to his or her tenants until he or she hits the cap in rent increases that the Government has in place. Third, he or she could decide that owning multiple properties is not worth the additional cost and end up exiting the private rental sector. I do not want that second or third scenario to happen.

We have a huge challenge in our rental market and many people are advocating policies that would end up reducing the supply of rental properties. I do not want to put measures in place that would add to the number of landlords who decide they do not want to provide rental accommodation anymore, thereby making things even worse for tenants. Leaving those arguments aside for a moment, I would make the point that this is exactly the same as what the Deputy has proposed in looking to get rid of a large chunk of the universal social charge. It would narrow the tax base, which is exactly the kind of thing we were all warned against doing in the aftermath of the crisis a decade ago. That is what the Deputies' measures would do.