Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, the policy decision in regard to refundable tax credits requires consideration, which is why we in Sinn Féin have been putting this forward for many years. I am glad to hear the Minister say it warrants further consideration because, again, this is a change in attitude from this Minister, his party and the Government. We have had this debate and I have put forward this type of proposal every year to the Minister and his predecessors, and it has been stood against. It makes sense and that is why it is important to have a look at this.

One point is that we have designed many complex ways of providing support for individuals as an Oireachtas. We have passed legislation that has put an onus on Revenue to provide weekly payments to employers based on the wages of their employees, and we have placed huge challenges on them. As I have said time and again through my years as finance spokesperson, and even in the aftermath of the crash, if there is one organisation that can hold its head up high, it has been the Revenue Commissioners over the last period. They have always stood up when asked to do so and have been able to give effect to the policy changes that have arisen from this House and, in some cases, they have really had to stretch themselves in the timeframe that was required of them. Nothing is ever straightforward but if there is a policy to direct funding to some of our low income employees, those who are quite vulnerable in terms of their take-home pay, I definitely think it is within the reach and wisdom of the Revenue Commissioners to be able to direct this.

What we need is the discussion. I look forward to seeing the tax strategy papers next summer and, hopefully, they will agree with my assessment that we need this and that we needed it in the past. This amendment talks about refundable tax credits. I would argue that tax credits are there to support low and middle income employees. I would also argue that when someone reaches a certain point on the income threshold, that policy objective is no longer there. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, everybody in the State gets tax credits.

As an example, I will use the figure of €300,000. I believe those in the 1%, the highest income earners in the State, do not need tax credits. At that point, the policy objective is not about supporting them or reducing their tax liability. As I said, the Labour Party in Britain introduced this many years ago and it was continued by the Tory party. This means that when a certain point in someone's income is reached, they start to lose their credits, not all at once and there is no cliff edge but they lose their credits based on the amount of income they receive above a certain threshold. I strongly argue that when someone is on €100,000, they need to start losing their credits.

I will leave it at that. I welcome the commitment from the Government to look at this in the Tax Strategy Group papers.

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