Mr. Patrick Davitt:

I put it to Deputy Gould that from 2003 to 2006, the process of developers or land developers buying land, getting planning permission and selling it on was a lot more simple then than it is now. We were looking at an eight-week period for planning permission and then at a further eight weeks after that. Planning permission was a lot more simple. Now, we are looking at years and at judicial reviews and all sorts of planning scenarios. Not alone that, we are now also looking at a situation whereby, if this tax comes this way, we are devaluing the land at the actual start. If the developer must devalue the land at the start, there will be an actual loss to the Government in the devaluation of that land because the developer has to look at the land value as it is and take the tax into consideration. The capital gains tax therefore will be a lot less on that particular property as well; the 33% rate that is paid. Even if you get an extra increase in the land from a capital gains perspective, that would be brought completely down because the developer will look at the actual value of that land taking this tax into consideration. It is another scenario. It is the county councils that determine the value of land. It is not auctioneers or builders. It is like everything else, the more zoned land that is available, the less the price will be. That is where the initial problem is; it is because land has been de-zoned, not zoned. This is really what is going on at the moment. We need to get more land zoned. Obviously then the price is going to come down. If the scenario is that this tax is wanted from a community perspective or from a county council's perspective, then instead of bringing the capital gains tax to 80%, as Mr. MacDonald spoke about, maybe bring it to 50%. Perhaps take the capital gains at the beginning from the person who is actually making the money and let the developer or the builder get on with what they are doing. I believe that is really the issue here that should be looked at first and that it should be made quite simple, rather than getting into the scenario of this particular tax.