Results 8,701-8,720 of 35,658 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I understand that and the cumulative effect of it. What data has the Department collected on land value inflation over the last period? What projections does it have over the next five to six years? This means nothing if land values are increasing by more than 3%. There is no incentive to do anything because people can just sit and ride it out if land values are increasing every year.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The value of the tax will increase but the over-value of the site that the owner disposes of at the end will increase. Has the Department done calculations based on land value inflation of, for example, 5%?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I know.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: If the value of land increases and we take the portion of the increase every year, then the tax that is paid on that is 3%. The landowner will be able to maintain 97% of the portion of the land value increase each year. If the land value increases by more than 3%, there is a benefit for the landowner to do what is happening across the State, which is hoarding. That is the problem here....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Minister have any indication of where it will be?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Minister accept if land value inflation were running hypothetically at 5% per annum, even with this tax there is an incentive for landowners to hoard land with the aim of cashing in some years later with a higher value on disposal?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine. Will the Minister give a working example, from the Department, of land value inflation running at 5% to 10% on a percentage basis and what that will mean for the tax? That would be helpful for the debate. Again, my contention is that the middle of a housing emergency is not the time to introduce a tax, which will not come in until 2024 at the earliest or 2025 for other...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. The toing and froing in respect of the local authorities takes up a large section of the legislation. It again speaks to the fact that, in some cases at least, this tax will not come in for another four years. This is not the time to introduce it at a low rate. We will bring forward amendments regarding that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: It is for the newly zoned land-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: It will be three years for all other lands.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: In the middle of a housing crisis, even three years is a long time. Given-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I would assume-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: That is the key point. That is why we should introduce it at a higher rate. They will not have to pay it because they will take action, which is the desired effect the Minister and I want, but having a higher rate will ensure more people will take action.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine. If landowners do not develop, and if there is residential land in our towns and cities that is undeveloped, then they should pay 10% over three years. They should probably be paying 10% in the first year. We are in the middle of an emergency. This is not the time to be thinking about the poor craturs who are hoarding land in the middle of our towns and cities. This is a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Is that an executive decision or a reserve function of the local authority? Are all these decisions under this legislation taken by members of the local authorities or by their executives?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I have a final question on this entire subject. Will the Minister talk me through a working example of this? I am not referring to the process of doing the maps, as that is clear in the legislation. To take the example of my county of Donegal, there are well established towns but also small villages, which would have local area maps. Will all the sites in all those villages be captured?...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Regardless of the housing need in that area.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: How could a local authority do that? I am thinking of villages in rural Ireland and within the control points, they are zoned for mixed use or residential purposes. There would not be a density of development in those villages. What would be exempt then would the curtilage of one's home. The Minister said he would not be taxing where a house could not be built. However, any other fields...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Some of the land will be capable of that. Theoretically, if every single vacant site in a village were to be developed, there would not be the service capacity required for sewerage services or possibly water services, but there would be the capacity to develop further. This is new legislation and it is important to have that mapped out. The Minister mentioned the Department has done an...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The run-in period is to provide for awareness of this. The reality is that if a town is zoned for housing, it would be rare if a piece of land in the centre of that town would be unzoned. Further questions arise on this issue. We must examine the issue of housing needs. The same tax will be applied to a person in a village in a rural community where there is a housing need as will be...