Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

This amendment relates to a report on corporation taxes. It states: "The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, bring forward a report on Government plans to reduce and mitigate the reliance of the public finances on windfall corporation tax receipts."

If we have learned anything from the past two years, it is that very little can be predicted and, often, the things that shake our country up most are global shocks and things over which we have no control, such as Covid, the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis we currently face. What we have seen and heard from previous contributions is that the country has received a significant input of revenue from corporation taxes. Central Statistics Office figures published today showed corporation taxes were €15 billion, which accounts for 16% of the taxes we accrue in this country. That is double what it was in 2017 and that figure is forecast to rise to €21 billion. We also hear there is a general consensus that these taxes are essentially one-offs and it is very unlikely to be the case that they will be repeated. These corporation taxes are taxes that are heavily influenced by what happens in the global economy. The Department of Finance's chief economist has raised concerns, or cautioned, that the slowdown in the global tech sectors poses a risk to corporation tax receipts next year and into 2024.

We need to take a very prudent approach to these corporation taxes, and recognise this particular downturn in the tech sector and what is happening in that sector as a wake-up call to us. We now need to be very prudent regarding corporation taxes and how we manage them but also how we plan for the future. We cannot rely on them forever. It would be prudent at this stage to develop a plan on how we will deal with any downturn in those taxes and mitigate our reliance on those finances. This amendment is simple and pretty self-explanatory. I hope the Minister will support it because essentially all we are asking for is a report, and for the Government to plan and be proactive in this instance. I would be interested to hear the Minister's opinion on this amendment. I hope he is supportive of it.

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