Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is believed that most of the intellectual property now located in Ireland is not rising in value. Most of the intellectual property situated here includes items such as patents on pharmaceutical products. The value of this type of item declines as the patent runs out. Revenue does not anticipate that much of the intellectual property located here will raise revenue because capital gains will not generally accrue. There are international trends which show that intellectual property is moving from jurisdictions.

This is a measure we should have in our tax code. If we are going to have such a measure, we should have it and introduce it cleanly. Revenue did not predict an amount of revenue to be raised through this tax because most of the intellectual property located here is not of the sort that would be expected to raise revenue. In terms of budget arithmetic, it would not have been prudent to add a sum of money on which we would be building other spending commitments when there is no prediction of a yield at this point. However, depending on other assets being in place, this tax is expected to raise revenue in the future.

I hope that has helped to address the concerns.

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