Results 14,261-14,280 of 26,924 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, but to me, it is telling that it is not shown here. I have difficulty getting these up-to-date figures.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I appreciate that and thank the Chairman for his help. The figures were not presented initially, and to my mind the most important thing is how much profit is being made. Am I correct - to confirm for the public, who may be interested in these things - that profits are up considerably? Is that right? Yes, very considerably. Profits are up by percentages a good deal in excess of wages,...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Non-trading profits, but the vast bulk of profits-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: -----are trading profits and they are very considerably up. It is an upward trend. The percentages of increases are well outstripping wage increases over that period. Would that be fair to say?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, it is indeed.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: There is still a gap.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: What I am trying to get at, because I think the public is owed this information, is that profits are going up very considerably and are consistently outstripping increases in remuneration for workers. That bears out what many of us see as a recovery for the few rather than a recovery benefiting the many. That is my point.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: No one could possibly dispute there has been increased employment, so we will take that as read.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Mr. McCarthy said the gap in 2016 was not as great. What was the figure he gave me for 2016?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: It is not the wage bill I am concerned with. I am concerned with how profits are doing versus how wages are doing. That is what I am interested in. Even in 2016, when Mr. McCarthy is saying it is slightly less, the gap is between 2% for wages and 7% for profits.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: That is what Mr. McCarthy just said.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: For workers it is the wage that is quite important.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: The companies making ginormous profits will definitely not be heading out of business any time soon. From the latest available figures, we have €142 billion and €7.4 billion paid in tax. What is the tax paid as a percentage of gross trading profits? It would be useful for us to have that figure.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: There are about five different calculations of effective tax rate. I could work it out myself but I think the figures should be provided for the tax paid versus the gross manufacturing and non-manufacturing profits and what one is as a proportion of the other.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Mr. Rónán Hession made the point that we do not have that many allowances. That is somewhat debatable. It is certainly the case that the amount of taxable income that can be written off by the allowances that do exist is pretty extraordinary. Mr. Howard seems to be saying, if I understand it correctly, that many of the companies that account for much of the profits and allowances...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I do not understand why Mr. Howard is being so cautious about saying that. The graph provided shows there was an absolutely extraordinary jump from 2014 to 2015; the intangible assets benefiting from the plant and machinery capital allowances jumped from €2.6 billion to €28 billion in one year. To me, the extent of the allowance is absolutely mind-boggling.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I have to be honest and say I understand Mr. Howard is under some constraints but businesses did not develop a whole lot of new intellectual property overnight. What they actually did is an accountancy exercise where instead of paying themselves royalties they relocated the intellectual property here and instead of avoiding tax by getting the allowance on royalties, they now do not pay tax...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: When we are dealing with intangible assets, we are dealing with a whole new category - let us be clear about this - and a category that, in my opinion, these companies are exploiting to the nth degree. I believe that when a particular heading allows for allowances to jump by a factor of more than ten - from €2.6 billion to €28 billion - we need to know exactly what is going on.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Precisely what is going on?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Corporation Tax Receipts: Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners (14 Jun 2017)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I am probably out of time but-----