Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party opposes this section and the initiative involved on the basis of the basic rule of thumb that a landlord should not pay less tax on his or her passive income or investment than a PAYE worker on his or her income. I do not believe the policy is sustainable, as has been said before, including by me. Assistant professor of economics Barra Roantree, who works in Trinity College Dublin, has referred to it as one of the most stupid reliefs in years, in the face of stiff competition, as Deputy Doherty has said and as I have said previously. There was no evidence available – quite the opposite, in fact – to indicate the relief would achieve what the Minister claims. It evidently will not. Deputy Doherty is right in that all the research is very clear on this.

When we speak to landlords in our representational work, we note there is no demand for the provision among them. It will not achieve the objective that the Minister appears to have set out for it. No advice I have seen suggests it would keep landlords in the market. The reasons landlords are leaving are manifold but they are not doing so for want of a tax relief of this nature. They are leaving the market because house prices are high, as Deputy Doherty said. The capital gains tax provision was introduced at a particular point for a particular reason and served a purpose, but I just do not understand objectively why the costly measure we are discussing has been introduced. It just does not make sense to me because it will simply not achieve the stated objective the Minister believes it will. That is clear and has been proven to be the case. It is an absolute waste of taxpayers' money, benefiting landlords above PAYE workers. The basic rule of thumb I would apply is that a landlord should not be provided with these kinds of reliefs and taxed differently than a PAYE worker.