Results 22,181-22,200 of 33,049 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not. It is not a case of me trying to pick figures to illustrate a particular argument. I am just trying to give an overall view of where our tax code is at the moment. I go back to a point I have emphasised a number of times here. If a person is on low levels of income in our society, his or her effective tax rate is substantially lower than someone who is a middle or high-income...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not. The reason is that the person who is on a higher level of income has a higher effective rate of tax and is paying more in taxation in cash terms as well. The only way in which I can undo the kind of effect that the Deputy is referring to is by taking more and more people out of our personal tax space, which will go right back to the policies that caused us such difficulty in the past.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We will have that figure for Deputy McGrath in a moment. As I am giving that figure, I now have some of the figures that were asked for earlier on in the session. I gave the figure overall that we have 400,000 taxpaying units between €20,000 and €30,000. We have 217,000 between €20,000 and €25,000, another 61,000 between €25,000 and €27,000 and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I aim to set up the working group after the passage of the Finance Bill. My ambition is that I will get an update or a report from the working group in advance of budget 2019. As for how long it will take to do, it is a very significant piece of work that will take between three and five budgets. I am going to proceed with great care. The object of the approach is actually to strengthen...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is my objective.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, three to five budgets.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I think it is too early for me to give Deputy McGrath a definitive answer on that. At the moment, even though our social insurance system has a deficit within it, people will still get benefits to which they are entitled. That is because we use general taxation at times to complement where we are in the Social Insurance Fund to make sure that people get benefits to which they feel they are...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not want to undermine the kind of social contract approach that we are trying to build up here. Many people face circumstances during their lives and we are aware of one of them at the moment in which social insurance contributions lapse and so on. I am determined that we do not end up in a position that the contributory principle is extended to such a degree that it in any way...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will come back to the Deputy with an answer before we move off this section.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As I said to Deputy Michael McGrath, my early thinking on this is that it is a very complicated project and that I have yet to get to the point of even determining the terms of reference that would eventually lead to the paper I mentioned earlier. I want to deepen the contributory principle. From my experience of these systems in other jurisdictions, however, I want to evaluate whether such...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: What I am thinking at the moment is that it would be a working group rather than a commission and would consist of the Departments and Government bodies that will be affected by this such as the Revenue Commissioners and the Departments of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Finance. It would be a working group that would have to instigate a period of public consultation in which...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: That is exactly why I am taking such care in committing to a purely contributory system. It is exactly for the kind of risk the Deputy has identified, of which I am well aware. I believe we have an opportunity to put in place a structure that allows it to be clearer to citizens how we can pay for the maintenance of existing benefits and, hopefully, the creation and expansion of new ones in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I think statistically they are at the higher end of income earners in our State, yes. Where I differ with the Deputy is that I think the effect of that income on people's living standards varies dramatically.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will go back to the point I made to the Deputy earlier. I think these two points can coexist beside each other. There can be people who are on an income of €70,000, which is a very high level of income in comparison with somebody who is on €25,000 or €30,000. They are at the higher end of the income ladder in our State as defined by the statistics that I am sure will...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: If this is an argument, it is a reasonably polite one at this point on the Finance Bill. I take the Deputy's point that in terms of the income distribution, someone on €70,000 is clearly at the higher end. I accept that point. I think the Deputy can see my side of the coin also in terms of the pressure that person might face. However, it is because of my recognition also that if I...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I understand that it is the Deputy's intention to propose a tax system under which all of those earning up to €1,731 per week would be exempt from USC entirely. The current exemption threshold for USC stands at €13,000 per annum and it is now estimated that from next year, 29% of all income earners will no longer be liable for USC. To further increase this entry threshold to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy’s amendment refers to the current system of reporting data based on taxpayer units, whereby jointly or separately assessed couples are recorded as a single tax unit. This is an inevitable consequence of a tax system which allows for the assessment of married couples and civil partners based on the joint income of the couple. It is not possible at the moment for Revenue to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I, too, want the information as it will allow me to form the best view I can of the current state of our tax base because one could reach different conclusions in relation to how many taxpayers are paying tax as opposed to how many tax units are paying tax. Given the value I place on maintaining the breadth of the tax base, I want this information too. Prior to the Deputy raising this issue...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In regard to employment income only, is the Deputy speaking about income separate to that which could be received from the State?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I have an idea about where I want to go on this, which I outlined earlier. I am clear on the role which this integration could play. Following the passage of the Finance Bill 2017, I propose to establish a working group, with terms of reference, which will lead to a paper, which when completed I will publish and make available to the Deputy. The main reason for my not being able to accept...