Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Creighton for raising this matter. I want to assure her there is nothing ideological about this from the Government's perspective, as she has suggested. The Government has to make choices in regard to how it brings in income to run the State and provide vital services. I was not suggesting that income tax and capital acquisitions tax were the same. I was merely suggesting that when the Government has to form budgets, it has to make choices. The Minister has placed the emphasis in regard to tax reductions on work and on reducing tax on work. That makes a good deal of sense for a range of reasons, including competitiveness. However, the Minister has recognised, as I stated in my reply, that the recent growth in property values, particularly in Dublin and the greater Dublin area, as the Deputy said, has implications for liabilities that can arise for families. The Deputy said she thought some people in this Government think this is a tax that only impacts on the wealthy or the super wealthy. I can assure her that is not the case. That is certainly not the reality. This is a tax that impacts on many normal families.

With respect to the issue of the dweller, I was merely trying to reassure people because this issue has been the subject of significant debate and media attention. I meet many people in my constituency office who may be caring for a person with a disability and their child may be living at home and I have reassured them if the person is living in the home they are not liable for the tax.

The Minister is examining this tax. He will review it in advance of budget 2016. He has asked me to assure the Deputy that he will take her views on board in the context of this debate, and he will make his announcement and decision in the context of the budget.

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