Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister is sitting down so he will not fall down when I say this. Of course we have a tax system under which people who earn more pay more. I am happy to acknowledge that. Maybe the Minister will acknowledge that this is not always the case. Perhaps he will talk about the special assignee relief programme, SARP, which prevents the highest earners from paying more. It is the result of a nice little measure in the Finance Act 2012 which the Minister has continued. The funds industry lobbied the Minister's former colleague, who is now their chief lobbyist, to extend it in subsequent Finance Acts. It is not always the case that those who earn more pay more. I am interested to hear the Minister's comments. Is he stating that the programme for Government's commitment to introducing no income tax increases is no longer valid? Is that now subject to the report of the commission of taxation?

I have no problem supporting the Minister on many initiatives. The Finance Bill 2020 is quite detailed and there are many sections in it which we support. This is where the Minister's argument falls flat. However, I will not support this Minister in bringing in sweet deals for the vultures and the bankers, or allowing the highest-earning people in this State to reduce their tax liability by hundreds of thousands of euro. By God, I will stand up and call the Minister and Fine Gael out. That is wrong. It is not fair taxation. Yes, I will fight against the introduction of taxes that the ESRI says will place a heavy burden on rural dwellers, lone parents and those on the lowest incomes.

Time and again Sinn Féin has suggested ways to raise revenue by more than we would reduce the burden on the lowest incomes. We would do this by taxing intangible assets. The Minister will not even consider that because he protects those. We would not allow the banks to carry losses forward, but the Minister does not want to deal with banks. Let us help lone parents and rural dwellers by making sure the highest earners cannot avail of the tax exemptions the Minister and his colleagues brought in. The Minister will not go there because he protects those people. I will always stand up and be counted here. I will support the Minister and his finance initiatives when they are worthy of support, but I will call out this Minister and this Government when they need to be called out.

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