Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I will be brief, because I have to speak in the House. I am against the property tax. I never saw the rationale for it. I am of the view that it is a regressive tax. I do not expect the witness to agree with me on that.

For the record, facts are important. At the time the property tax was first introduced, there were a number of justifications for it. I have not checked the records, but I am fairly sure it was the case that those introducing it - presumably advised by the Department of Finance - suggested that a property tax would help quell the property market and prevent some of the excesses we saw in the period leading up to the crash in 2008. Can the witness remind us if the Department of Finance actually advised the Government at the time that it would have this impact? I certainly remember that as being one of the arguments that was used.

My primary concern is for the future. There is absolutely no doubt that with a 71% increase in property values since 2013 that we are talking about frightening increases in property tax for huge numbers of people. Has the Department carried out an assessment in terms of the regressive impact on those who cannot afford it? That is one of the primary reasons we opposed it. Has the Department carried out an analysis of the potential regressive impact of dramatic increases in property tax? If I read the paper correctly, 46,000 households have already sought deferrals on the basis that their income is below the threshold. People cannot afford to pay. How many more households would find themselves unable to pay if there was a 71% increase. In order to inform any meaningful discussion on this matter, we need to know that. How many people are going to be impoverished by this because they will simply not be able to pay? If that analysis has not been carried out the Department is not really serious about scrutinising the potential impact of this.

Does the witness know how much is owed by those who have sought deferrals on the basis that their income is not adequate to pay the tax? How much debt liability is being built up by those who cannot afford to pay this regressive tax as a consequence of deferrals? Is there any plan in the review of the tax to discuss the issue of ability to pay? I do not find these discussions about site value and property very interesting, because for me the issue is whether people can pay the tax or not. It is already clear that huge numbers of people cannot. Dublin is full of these people, as are the other urban centres. They are pensioners with miserable pensions, people on social welfare or those with very low incomes who happen to live in properties that have high values. The values of those properties are going through the roof, and the tax that will be levied against them, which is bad now and may be worse in the future, bears no relationship whatsoever with their ability to pay. Has any analysis of this been done? Specifically, can the witness give us figures about how much is owed by that group of people who could not afford to pay?