Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I welcome the Minister and the departmental staff. An issue about which we all feel deeply is affordable housing for young people who, if they were given some supports, could buy their own homes. The Minister, Deputy Murphy, stated recently that he will announce a major new scheme within the coming fortnight. Is this something the Minister has funded for 2017 or is it part of the 2018 budget?

Where will the Minister go this year with regard to the Christmas bonus? How will he fund it and fund the water refund? Where exactly are they in the Minister's calculations?

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the point of tax expenditures. The estimates for tax expenditure was €5.4 billion in 2014. What is the latest estimate? Could it be as high as €20 billion? This time last year we were looking at section 110 and some of the other incredible scams.

This morning our colleague, Deputy McDonald, raised the issue of the extraordinarily generous tax concessions which will be given to AIB and the other banks over the next 20 years. These tax expenditures are astonishing. The Minister mentioned the ex postfactocost-benefit analysis. In respect of the 9% VAT rate for hospitality businesses, or whatever new rate the Minister might introduce in the budget, I asked the Minister a parliamentary question, which was not reached during oral questions, about the number of people in the Department who are looking at the cost-benefit analysis of such expenditure and how some of it could be clawed back. The importance of tax expenditure is my second point.

Third, this is the second Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil budget in that the parties seem to have agreed basic parameters and seem to be delivering within them. If there is a similar result in the next election which results in a change of position of the partners, I suppose Deputy Michael McGrath will be sitting here with those of us who survive the election and the Minister will be on this side working with him. What kind of consultation takes place between the two parties to come up with the budget which the Minister will present? For example, on income tax, I made a proposal last year in my own personal submission which seems quite similar to the proposal the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, has made this year. Fianna Fáil seems to have a different proposal on USC. Is that so-called squeezed middle of concern to the Minister?

On tax diversification, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, has made some comments, which are quite troubling, in respect of the corporation tax situation beyond 2020 and how it should be prepared for. On the diversification front, is any work being done on modernisation of tax rates? Many of us have proposed, year after year, a third, higher tax rate or possible a wealth tax. The ESRI prepared a very good working paper on a wealth tax, No. 549, which I am sure the Minister has read. It outlined the possibility of a modest wealth tax raising €1.25 billion on the basis of 5% of our households owning 55% of our wealth. We do not know the figure because we have no information.

My fourth point is on excise. Does the Minister have a global figure in mind? We have heard talk of a sugar tax being good for us. We have heard about diesel rates, even though those of us who still drive diesel cars are apprehensive about this development and so many car makes moved towards diesel. We have heard about cigarettes and so on. Does the Minister have a global figure in mind in terms of pushing the fiscal space out through excise duties?

To make one final point about debt, there is a still huge chunk of money, €7 billion or so, being used for debt repayments in addition to the net contribution which we now make to the European Union and the fear that contribution will increase after March 2021. Does the Minister have concerns in this area? I have raised the issue of the 2018-2020 refinancing with the Minister.