Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's officials have told him that his €500 million landlord tax break will not fix this problem. It will be ineffective and will primarily go to landlords who have no intention of leaving the system. According to figures from the Revenue, more than 41,000 landlords, which is more than one in four, will pay no income tax on their rental income as a result of the Minister's tax break for landlords. We now have a situation where ordinary workers, be they teachers, gardaí, cleaners or people working on the factory floor, are paying a higher rate of tax on their earned income than landlords will pay on their rental profits. This is not fair by any measure. This has been shown by the Minister's officials. How come all his officials are wrong and he is right? How come they are wrong when they are saying this measure has a substantial deadweight cost? How come they are wrong when they draw comparisons to the Celtic tiger tax breaks that Fianna Fáil introduced in the past, which the officials say were, ultimately, disastrous? How come they are wrong when they say this is not the driving factor causing landlords to exit the market? How come they are wrong when they say this relief is going to be ineffective? How come the Minister is right on all these issues?

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