Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 29:

In page 145, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following:“Report on proposals for digital tax

62.The Minister shall within one month from the passing of this Act prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the merits of a digital tax regime as proposed by a number of European Union Member States, indicating how such a tax might operate, the likely tax rate and whether the tax paid would be set off against other tax liabilities.”.

This amendment calls on the Minister to prepare and lay before the Dáil within one month of the passing of the Act a report on the merits of a digital tax regime as proposed by a number of European Union member states. There is an inevitability to a digital tax and we should at least prepare for it. I know the Minister has set his face against such a tax, but the analysis that would be required if this amendment is carried would be a good thing.

It would be a good thing to see if we could offset tax from a sector making significant profits. I think there is universal acceptance that it is not paying its fair share of tax globally. There will be a regime of some description. What is emerging from European countries is analogous to a levy on turnover, as opposed to what some countries are proposing which is a sales tax within each jurisdiction. I am opposed to that. We should be prepared for this, we should acknowledge it is coming downstream and that this sort of analysis should be done. This amendment will not impact on the Minister's budgetary arithmetic. I ask him to look favourably on this amendment and accept it so that work can be underway and we can have an informed discussion on the issue of digital tax in this House in the future.

See this speech in context