Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 33, to delete lines 30 to 32, and substitute the following: ""(II) €10,000 for each of the years of assessment 2023 to 2028 (both years inclusive)",".

These proposals apply to benefit-in-kind. There was an issue with a number of previous Finance Bills when the Government tried to do what it is doing here, which is reform the benefit-in-kind scheme.

This will ultimately lead to a tax increase for many workers who are availing of company cars. The solution at that time was to introduce a €10,000 offset that allowed for the original market value, OMV, of the car to be reduced by €10,000. The Government now plans to phase that out from 2026 onwards, reducing it to €2,500 in 2028. The impact of this will be a tax increase. That is the impact of this. It is going to be a tax increase for employees. I am opposed to this section and, therefore, I have proposed these amendments to ensure that this tax increase will not be felt during these years. That is the subject of amendments Nos. 17 and 18.

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