Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

There is no reason the Revenue Commissioners could not provide tax relief at source in respect of environmental and waste collection charges. After all, service charges for waste collection, be it by public or private operators, are normally set once or, at most, twice a year. There is some certainty associated with them, which makes it very easy to calculate how much is to be paid and the value of the tax relief. Throughout the country charges are largely levied in respect of household properties. Since there is not a great turnover of residents, it would be very easy to put in place a system that would allow the authorities to establish with considerable certainty the households liable to charges. It would be easy to develop a database like those that the ESB, Bord Gáis and other service providers have a well deserved reputation for maintaining. The Revenue Commissioners' database of addresses — containing those of at least one person per household — is just as well developed. The Revenue Commissioners obviously send tax certificates to the houses of all those at work, of whom there are slightly in excess of 2 million. Therefore, a basic information structure is in place that would allow for the provision of tax relief at source in respect of service charges.

It is galling that many people are meeting the growing cost of service charges while not benefiting from the tax relief the Government decided should be made available to encourage individuals to pay such charges. Since service charges are levied by fewer than 200 operators, including county councils and private operators, it seems feasible to have a data capture system that would allow for the provision of tax relief at source. Given the work of the Revenue Commissioners, they ought to adopt such a system.

This morning I mentioned on two occasions the issue of individuals paying charges to management companies. In my constituency when an apartment is rented or purchased, often through the affordable housing scheme, the management charge is, on average, €2,400, which is not cheap. The management fee almost always includes the refuse collection service charge for an apartment but, because there is no regulation by the Government, despite lots of promises, the circumstances that obtain are unsatisfactory. The Taoiseach and former Tánaiste, Deputy Harney, told me repeatedly in the House that they believed the non-regulation of management companies was a disgrace and that the issue would be attended to by the Government pronto. If we were in cowboy films and were waiting on the Government to ride pronto to assist various categories of taxpayers, the film would be over before the US cavalry arrived.

I mentioned this problem to the Minister for Finance. I suspect addressing it will require legislation on both management companies and management agents — there are two sets of actors. In many cases, the management company directors are the developers of the managed properties. They are the Minister's friends, not necessarily mine, and have a ready-made cash cow in the form of management fees. They are meant to hand over the management company to the residents but, because they never complete the development, the hand-over is postponed. Not all developers do this and some handle the matter fairly and well. However, what some are doing to residents in such developments is an unholy disgrace. If there were tax relief at source, it would represent another way in which to exert pressure on rogue management companies to behave responsibly and give those living in the developments and paying through the nose for service charges some recompense and access to the tax relief to which they are entitled by law in respect of the service charge element of their management fees. It would be a good and fair policy.

It was amazing and fascinating to hear Deputy Mansergh refer to the tax strategy committee which is regarded as being up there with the great and the good in the hidden world of the public service. It is a very important body but one should try to imagine its very important members wrestling, over their breakfast, cup of tea or croissant, with the equity of a €6,000 tax break for a childminder. No wonder those who are not well off sometimes consider the Department of Finance to be conspiring against them. I can understand that Deputy Mansergh and others wrestle with their consciences over the equity of a €6,000 tax break for a woman minding kids and probably about the equity of tax reliefs on bin charges for those paying fees to management companies but the same set of people have no problem with multimillionaires being stuffed to the gills with tax breaks. This this does not seem to bother them. Deputy Mansergh's comments certainly constitute a fascinating insight into the world of the haut Civil Service. No wonder the officials in question have handed themselves such salary increases. I wonder whether they live on the same planet as the rest of us, even the ordinary Deputies in this House.

I recommend the amendment to the Minister. I hope that, in the absence of a taxpayers' advocate, he will exert some pressure on the Revenue Commissioners to address the issue.

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