Results 46,061-46,080 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Well, people are meant to.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Perhaps land was a bad example, but for virtually everything else people pay capital gains tax. The international investors who came in here and bought great bargains will be able to walk out of the country without paying any capital gains tax and it is wrong. Other countries do not do this. It has led to a property bubble. I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett. The opportunity was to move...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: If the point of this section is to tax foreign investors, then the section fails because while I agree with Deputy Pearse Doherty that foreign landlords are buying large swathes of the country - or at least the capital - it is institutional landlords that are making the purchases. Yes, there are exceptions, but institutional landlords in this section remain completely exempt from withholding...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Amendment No. 47 substitutes in new wording-----

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I apologise.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: We must be really careful with the logic which states that this section, which deals with Irish real estate funds, makes things better from a tax perspective and, therefore, that we should support it because one cannot just take a one-year view. The view expressed on Committee Stage was very clear, namely, it is currently the case that property businesses in this country do not pay...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: No, I understood.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I understood. My comments are to the Minister of State. I am not responding to Deputy Burton's comment at all. I am responding to the Minister of State, to the amendment and to what Deputy Boyd Barrett said. There is a danger that we take the baseline as today and say that the IREF section brings in some welcome anti-avoidance measures and some new withholding tax provisions and that,...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: It is worrying to hear that the Government does not believe that it will be able to provide an informed view within 18 months. Large amounts of tax are at stake and there is an agreed policy position across the House that this needs to be shut down and these companies need to pay their taxes. They can pay their taxes as 25% section 110 tax, as 12.5% corporation tax plus 33% capital gains...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: It is a lot to try to process across the floor given the various rules and treaties. My understanding of what the Minister said was that the new rule that a maximum of 30% of earnings could be deducted as interest payments will probably be introduced here in 2024. Ireland is probably one of those countries deemed to have the laws in place. I imagine that is not very useful in terms of...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: An internal loan would be allowed.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I move amendment No. 39:In page 43, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following:"(iv) for which there may be no shared ownership, or control, in the State or internationally, between the qualifying company and the recipient of any interest or other distribution payable.". This amendment is linked to the charity issue. As the Minister stated, the rationale for charitable trust ownership is...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister. If possible, I would like to receive written responses to my outstanding queries.

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Ultimately, it is about getting proper taxes. The fact that companies have made significant amounts of money means that they had smart business people. To be honest, I do not think people have got their heads around exactly how much profit is being made. It is off the scale. Companies are turning investments of €80 million into profits of €400 million, for example. What is...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: The figure of €20 billion refers to NAMA transactions, but when one includes transactions in IBRC, HBOS, Deutsche Bank, etc. one reaches a figure of €40 billion very quickly. Revenue states the yield figure I used was too high at 9%. The yield I used was taken from the filed accounts of vulture funds and was net of normal interest deductions, business costs, operating costs...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: The Minister was absent on Committee Stage. I reiterate that there is recognition of what has been achieved. Huge progress has been made and I thank the Minister and his officials for the time spent on this issue. The original draft proposal was leaky, but it seemed to have been tightened considerably and was tightened again between Committee and Report Stages. I acknowledge what is very...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I want to speak specifically to the amendment and not get back into the debate about whether the banks should be allowed to bring forward their tax losses as tax credits. The Minister's counter argument on Committee Stage was that it was a difficult thing to do. The Minister was concerned about changing normal business practice and he argued that his normal way of doing it was to bring in...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: Speaking on behalf of those trapped in negative equity and who are being hit with these large tax bills, the Minister's response is not enough. Imagine if the tax law was to the effect that, if someone got his or her first job between 2002 and 2008, that person would have to pay an extra €5,000 in tax per year even though that would not be the case for anyone else. I hope that not...

Finance Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2016)

Stephen Donnelly: I support this amendment because we need to know what effect this scheme will have on house prices. I would like included in any such report, the impact not just on first-time buyers, which the Minister hopes will be positive, but on the negative equity generation. On Committee Stage, the Minister said he would look at help for the negative equity generation. His office sent me on the...