Dr. Tom McDonnell:

Rather than nationalising land, areas to look at would be universal basic services, and I am on the record as referring to things like education, health and so forth. I see a much stronger rationale there. In terms of land tax specifically, that would be my preferred way to go. Of course, the recommendation here is very broad. There is no recommendation here about how modest it would be, how extensive it would be or what the yield would be. The only recommendation is that it should yield more than commercial rates, which is €1.43 billion. Overall, the sense here is to tax the property, tax the land, tax the wealth, particularly when it is in those stock forms, which are the forms that cannot escape over the border.

In terms of the local property tax, I agree that it is not purely progressive in the sense of income tax but it is highly correlated with income.

There is no doubt but that because the top 10% have 54% of all wealth, their stock of property assets is much higher than it is for the other nine deciles, and then down the line. It is, therefore, broadly progressive from that perspective in wealth terms. In its impact on local democracy, I agree that that has not happened and that we need much stronger local government in Ireland. Currently, the band within which councillors can decide a particular rate is very narrow but if the ceiling was taken away, then one could potentially have very different outcomes from council to council. It might then perhaps become a much more meaningful choice. That is how I would approach that perspective of it and I believe the Deputy had other questions for Dr. Collins. I would answer that question, therefore, by saying that we need more taxes on wealth. This is a very important way of going about it; between the inheritance and capital gains tax reforms, and local property tax being very significantly increased, as well as the introduction of a land tax. Those in combination - together with a capital charge, which is the modest charge on all inheritance and gifts being transferred - cumulatively would move the composition of the tax base away from other sources, including consumption, towards capital stocks. That would achieve much of what we would be trying to achieve. It would be good for the economy overall in terms of the compositional shift and would be more equitable and sustainable. I agree there are issues around valuation that would be a problem for a land tax at the beginning. This is one of the reasons why this would be more of a medium-term to long-term proposition.

I am unsure if that answers the question but that is how I would come at it in the first instance.