Dáil debates

Wednesday, 3 November 2021

Finance Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

7:32 pm

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle. I am always very interested to read the Finance Bill every year to see the additional taxes and tax reliefs, which were not popular or trendy enough to make it into the Department’s big flashy budget announcement, but which are then quietly introduced much later via the Finance Bill. This year is no different as we see the introduction of more unnecessary tax breaks and extensions to tax reliefs for 2022.

We see in section 5 of the Bill that the help to buy scheme will be extended until the end of 2022 at current rates. I have voiced my doubts many times previously about the help to buy scheme due to the fact that there has been no evidence to show that this relief has done anything except push up prices for people who could not already afford homes. I do not believe that the help to buy scheme, which has very limiting criteria anyway, is an effective way of actually addressing the housing crisis and the struggle that Irish people face today in trying to secure a home. The scheme has been proven to be inflationary by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, which actually called the scheme a "poorly targeted policy that could add to house price growth". The extension of this scheme subsidises those on higher incomes at the expense of providing affordable homes for those in most need. Why then do we continue to extend this? Perhaps it is simply to subsidise those on higher incomes.

However, I welcome the extension of the wage subsidy scheme and I also welcome the fact that employees who work from home are being recognised in this Bill. The fact that they are only entitled to claim up to 30% of relevant expenses of heating, electricity and Internet costs as a deduction against their taxable income however is very underwhelming. Over 18 months into this pandemic, why are we still not making the necessary accommodations for our remote workers? This affects many of my constituents in Donegal, who not only have to deal with the increased cost of working from home, but are forced to work with insufficient and incredibly slow Internet. I am aware that this is not really the responsibility of the Minister who is here or within the Finance Act but it is a whole-of-government response and there are parts of rural Ireland, even within towns and villages, which do not have any Internet availability and this needs to be addressed.

I have stated in my speech on budget day that a good tax system would have zero tax reliefs. Tax relief is a neoliberal solution that only benefits those on higher incomes and takes away from public spending. Investment in public services would be much more effective. This Finance Bill shows me a complete lack of investment in our public services. I see very little in this Bill to invest properly in housing, healthcare, education and childcare. Even the minuscule rise in social welfare does not reflect the rate of rise in the cost of living in any way.

I note also that there is nothing in this Bill for renters, despite the fact that we continue to have the highest rents in Europe.

I have not seen inflation addressed here either. This Bill caters only for those who own property and not for those who rent it. Instead of addressing the ongoing crisis in the rental and housing sector, or looking into a potential vacant property tax, the Department focuses on reducing the zoned land tax from 7% to 3%. It is actually laughable.

I am very disappointed that so many important issues have been left out of this Bill and of this year’s budget. It shows just how out of touch this Government is with its citizens and especially with rural communities. There is absolutely nothing here that would benefit rural communities in any way. In fact the measures introduced here, such as the carbon tax, will only serve to hurt those communities. I expressed my annoyance on budget day at the rise of fuel prices and I would like to reiterate that again.

An issue I want to discuss, which I have discussed time and again, is one that will not go away and this is mica. I thought at this stage that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and indeed the Greens, could do nothing further to shock me with their sheer incompetence. However, the fact that the redress scheme was not included in the budget or in this Bill is truly appalling. To keep this issue ongoing is just completely wrong. What is more is that we are now hearing reports that the redress memo will not go to Cabinet next week, missing yet another deadline of 9 November. That sickens me. I saw a newspaper report mention 9 December and I thought it was a misprint but it must actually be right. We will now have to wait until then when yet another deadline will pass and this just seems to keep on going and going. What more needs to be discussed other than the fact that 100% redress for these families is necessary? Every single day we delay is another day of distress we force on these families and is another day we allow these houses to crumble around them. I hope that the thought of the pain and distress this causes does not leave the Government's mind as it continues to let these families down again and again. We need to act and we need this action to happen quickly.

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