Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

Ten minutes each.

I was quoting a colleague, Mr. Sweeney, who was using the metaphor that we are in a very hard winter but the sense in this country is sometimes one can get a good summer and the land will recover, that we have real capabilities in this country that will thrive after we get over some of the mistakes, some of the dead wood of the past that we must remove.

We are starting to see some of that dead wood removed in this budget for we have had, as the Minister for Finance stated, a taxation system that was not fit for purpose in a range of different ways. First, as stated by the Commission on Taxation, which we appointed and which has done its good work, it was too narrowly focussed on property taxation, short-term transactions and income taxes, and within the income tax system, too narrowly based in terms of who is paying. There was a large section that was not included within that. As difficult as it is to broaden the tax base, it is, as the Commission on Taxation and others have stated, the right thing to have done.

It would also be right for us to do what the Commission on Taxation recommends, to avail of this opportunity to broaden the tax base into other areas, including more stable forms of property taxation that will not get us back into a bubble and bust territory. That also is something towards which we are moving in this budget. The change in the stamp duty arrangements which was recommended by the commission - it recommended a zero rate but to reduce it to 1% is close - is a step in the direction. It is to be followed in subsequent years with other measures and this will lead to a more sustainable property tax system, which we urgently need and which was one of the main reasons we got into such difficulties. That is something I welcome, particularly for those who are caught in difficult mortgage situations today. It, among the other measures that we have made, may help them to trade down and get out of the debt difficulties they have.

We also had too narrow a tax base in that the very wealthy in this country were not paying their fair share. Following yesterday, on the back of other changes and further ones to come, there will be a significant increase in real taxation payments by those who are very wealthy who in the past were able to avoid paying their fair share of tax by using tax reliefs and the special pension arrangements. That is a critical and important change that we have agreed in this budget.

We must also generate our wealth in a much broader way and get away from our obsession with property.

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