Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 79:

In page 63, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following:“23. The Minister for Finance is to order a study to be carried out on methods of closing remaining loopholes and abolishing tax breaks currently availed of by equity funds, investment funds, financial vehicles and Real Estate Investment Trusts and is to report to the Dáil within six months of the enactment of this Act on the findings of the study, including an estimation of how much could be raised from this for the Exchequer.”.

This amendment, tabled by Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit, calls on the Minister for Finance to order a study to be carried out on methods of closing remaining loopholes and abolishing tax breaks currently availed of by equity funds, investment funds, financial vehicles and real estate investment trusts, REITs, and to report to the Dáil within six months of the enactment of this Act.

This is an element of what has been discussed already during the debate on other amendments. What emerges from the discussion is that significant tax breaks exist via these mechanisms which enable the very wealthy and vulture funds to get away with using massive tax loopholes. This relates to the broad point about the context in which this debate takes place, namely, the strategy, which the Government continues to deny but which both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael engage in, of being a corporate tax haven. I note that a survey was carried out at the Web Summit in Portugal last week and the majority of those surveyed said they thought Ireland was a tax haven. They are the people to whom it matters to signal to them that it is a tax haven.

We tried asking for other things but were not allowed to ask for them. However, what we are asking for here is simply a study to be carried out on the closing of all of these loopholes. These loopholes are the mechanism by which tax is avoided legally by a variety of institutions. We should examine the loopholes and the Government should report back, including an estimate of how much could be raised for the Exchequer from a shutting down of these loopholes and this tax avoidance.

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