Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

While continuing to oppose this section and the legislation, we can certainly agree with the amendment tabled by Deputy Pearse Doherty in that it would ameliorate some of the worst injustices of the property tax. Before addressing the detail, the Minister sought to satirise the views of Deputies on the left for opposing this tax and tried to shanghai Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin to the cause of supporting this legislation which socialists and Marxists everywhere apparently support. When I refer to "socialists" I mean real socialists, rather than the pseudo-social democrats the Minister frequently meets on his trips to mainland Europe, those who keep the name "socialist" in their party titles but engage in perpetual prostration before the speculators, financial marketeers and bondholders. It is not surprising, therefore, that they would go along with what is the wisdom of the marketplace and European establishment. Real Marxists and socialists believe one imposes progressive taxes on real surplus value and profit, not the homes of the worker or peasant, as the case may be.

A home is not a productive asset. Its upkeep costs a great deal of money. In particular, it costs for those who have mortgages, even more so for those in negative equity.

Regarding the chargeable value, the Minister tried to make a virtue out of the fact that the price of homes had fallen dramatically since the top of the bubble. This is no consolation to the hundreds of thousands of householders trapped in the nightmare of negative equity. It reminded me of a clash I had with the former Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, in 2006 at the height of the boom. Having met a young worker and partner who had just paid €375,000 for a new modest, three-bedroom home, which was the going rate at that time, and were on a 40-year mortgage, a banker worked out for me that, at 4%, they would pay €750,000 before they would be clear of their mortgage. It seems a long time ago, but it was only six years ago, which means that there are 34 more years of that mortgage to go. If they survive, which I hope they do, they will be in their 70s.

That massive millstone around their necks was caused by speculation and profiteering to which Fine Gael never once raised its voice in opposition. Now, the Government is landing a property tax on top of them and calls it progressive. I must say that the Minister's concept of fairness is upside-down, and his belief that it is fair to crucify someone on the dole with this new property tax is incredible.

The Minister made a conscious decision as to who he would hit. The troika, being representatives of European big business, big bankers and the financial markets, would not contemplate extra taxes on that sector despite the fact that accumulated uninvested profits in the eurozone amount to €3 trillion. These are the assets and profits that should be taxed to fill the hole.

In response to me, the Minister suggested that a 2.5% increase in corporation tax would raise €675 million. We have another model that would suggest significantly greater amounts if the effective tax rate was as it should be. Although there were and are alternatives, the Minister did not choose the fair option, but a grossly regressive situation.

The Minister stood up tonight and sought, by invoking Revenue, to terrify decent, ordinary taxpayers who in their hundreds of thousands opposed and boycotted the household tax because it was their understanding that not only was it fundamentally unjust but that it was also a bailout tax to help bondholders and bankers. The Minister's legislation smashes the pretence of a broadening of the tax base, which I am amazed that he has again tried to justify despite the fact that, in the same breath, he referred to Revenue being in charge of collecting it and putting its hand into exactly the same pot of workers' incomes or social welfare to pay this tax. The Minister must give up this pretence, yet he sought to terrify. It is clear that he is relying on fear to try to coerce people into swallowing this injustice.

In a democracy, the Government should fear the people, not the other way around, but there are states that are stronger than fear. A sense of injustice and indignation is stronger than fear. People rightly have that sense, given what has been done to our society by a tiny cabal that is being legislated for week after week in this Chamber to bail it out at the expense of low and middle income earners. The inability to pay is stronger than fear. The Minister's cynical view that people's opposition will simply melt away like snow because he waved Revenue in front of them will prove a costly miscalculation for him. The Government and Revenue will rue the day that they took this course of action. They are entering into territory where they have never been.

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