Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

The resolutions contain measures that I would broadly support, although I would have questions about them even where I support the principle. In so far as we are talking about increasing taxes on capital gains, when one is talking about people who have lots of capital and assets to hand on, then people should be taxed to a significant extent. It is an inadequate measure in the direction of the more serious measures we in the United Left Alliance proposed for a wealth and assets tax. However, at least it vaguely points in the right direction. I wonder why there are no bands to discriminate between people with lots of money and assets to hand on and those who are just ordinary members of the public who have a few quid or a small amount of assets to hand on to their family. We should have bands that discriminate between those who have a lot and those who have a little in terms of applying extra taxation.

By the same token, I am worried about the DIRT tax because it affects the small saver, the ordinary person, who is putting a few quid aside for their children. The tax does not distinguish between them and people who have lots of money and who should be taxed significantly.

I have the same concern about applying extra tax to life assurance policies and investment funds. Will the Minister elaborate on the application of the tax? Does it refer to all life assurance policies and all investment funds because, again, I know some ordinary working class people who got a few bob in redundancy payments or from another source and the bank advised them to invest it in a particular investment fund to gain interest. That could literally be their life savings. I do not like the idea of them facing increased taxes but when one talks about the bulk of hoarded assets and savings in the hands of a tiny minority that has vast amounts of wealth and assets, as we outlined in our budget submission, the latter group should face significantly higher extra taxes than what is being proposed, much of which is tokenistic but may inadvertently hurt the small saver or investor in a life assurance fund. I am concerned about those issues even though some of the measures are vaguely progressive. I would welcome more elaboration on the resolutions by the Minister. Unless I get support from the House it is probably not worthwhile calling a vote on this. However, other Deputies may wish to comment on my views or the Minister may wish to refute the concerns I have raised.

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