Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)

I move amendment No. 23:

In page 55, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following:

“Report on a Wealth Tax 40. The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the design, potential yield and distributional impact of a wealth tax on net household wealth above certain thresholds.”.

Some very good points were made on the previous amendment. I do not know that tax measures are the right way to address them but they need to be addressed.

This amendment relates to a cáin rachmais. We know wealth in Ireland is more concentrated than income. It was highlighted again with the publication of the future forty report. At the budgetary oversight committee, we are constantly reminded by IFAC, ESRI and all the groups who come in to us about the need to broaden the tax base. The Commission on Taxation and Welfare made that point as well. Wealth tax is a good way of doing that. According to the Revenue Commissioners, there are 1,170 high net-worth individuals who are worth €20 million or more. A well-designed cáin rachmais with appropriate exemptions could be a very good revenue-raising measure.

This is a taxation Bill, but apart from the revenue-raising aspect of it, there are other benefits in terms of social solidarity and social cohesion. That is very important. The issues Thomas Piketty has gone into great detail on regarding growing wealth inequality, which the Minister is very familiar with, need to be tackled, and a wealth tax is a way of doing that. Given the future forty report raised the challenges we face in future years with climate adaptation and an ageing population, we need measures to broaden the tax take and tax base. Often when we talk about taxation, the focus is on income tax measures but people at income tax level are under huge pressures from the cost of living. We need to look at tapping into different sources to broaden the tax base. From an equity and social justice point of view, a wealth tax merits serious consideration, so I ask that this amendment be agreed to.