Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister hopes to bring in a large portion of tax this year from the family home tax. The programme for Government specifically stated that any property tax would take into account the significant numbers of people in mortgage distress. Our Private Members' motion tonight is about mortgage distress and removing the bank's veto. Some 115 households fall into mortgage distress every day and the Minister plans to impose an additional burden on them. There is a different way to do it by introducing a proper property tax, which is a wealth tax. A wealth tax operates in many OECD countries, including France, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. I produced the legislation which is open to be amended and shaped in whatever way the Government wants. This is what governments in other countries are doing. The Spanish Government has recently reintroduced a wealth tax and the Liberal Democrats in Britain advocate one. The main opposition party in Germany, the SPD, is committed to introducing such a tax if it gets into government. This is what the Government should do instead of penalising householders across the State because they have a roof over their heads.

I could elaborate on other measures in the Bill. I believe it is a missed opportunity. As I mentioned earlier, the Bill has some positive aspects that will, hopefully, have some beneficial impact on the economy but they are too small and too far between and do not negate the seriously damaging policy of austerity. On the whole the Bill is a missed opportunity and underpins the austerity policy of the Minister's party and the Government.

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