Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy opened up by quoting Karl Marx. I think it was Marx who said that history repeats itself first as tragedy and then as farce. It is a relevant point in the debate we are having here regarding tax policy. In the last Dáil, many of the inquiries that were put in place to look at how we ended up in a place of multiple economic crises - all at the same time - pointed to the fact that previous Governments had narrowed the tax base again and again while increasing expenditure exponentially across that period. Every country against which we look to compare ourselves has a form of property taxation. It is vital in the coming years that our tax base includes a local property tax. I have heard what the Deputy has said about people's fear about the future of the LPT, which I well understand given that the bills for everyone would have come in over the past number of weeks. That is why I will take the opportunity to say now what I have said before, which is that my intention is that any future changes in the LPT will be moderate, fair and predictable. I am confident that the process I have outlined, which is well in advance of any change in the revaluation metric, will be able to deal with it.

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