Results 14,301-14,320 of 32,960 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Illegal Fuel Sales (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The threat that fuel fraud and the illicit tobacco trade pose to legitimate business, to consumers and the Exchequer is clear and I am assured by Revenue that combating such criminality continues to be a priority for them. Steps taken by Revenue to combat the illegal fuel trade include the introduction of stringent supply chain controls and reporting requirements, and a rigorous programme...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Home Renovation Incentive Scheme (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Home Renovation Incentive (HRI) was introduced by Section 477B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 in 2014. I currently have no plans to re-introduce the scheme which terminated in accordance with its sunset clause on 31 December 2018. Under my Department's Tax Expenditure Guidelines, the introduction of new tax incentive measures should only be considered in circumstances where...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Property Tax Exemptions (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The requested data, (the number of households exempted from property tax by county) as available at 31 December 2018 is set out in tabular form in Revenue's End of Year statistics report for the Local Property Tax, (available at www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/statistics/lpt/local-p roperty-tax-2018.pdf) at page 8 of the document. The various exemption types are generally...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am informed by Revenue that it is not possible to be definitive about the inheritance tax position in this case given the absence of specific information. For inheritance tax purposes, the relationship between the person who provides the inheritance (i.e. the disponer) and the person who receives the inheritance (i.e. the beneficiary) determines the life-time tax-free threshold - known...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I welcome the opportunity to attend the committee to discuss the summer economic statement published on 25 June 2019. The statement sets out the key elements of the Government's medium-term economic and fiscal strategy and updates the economic parameters for discussion in the Dáil in advance of budget 2020. A decade on from the financial crisis, we have experienced a remarkable...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It fits inside that. The figure of €600 million is generated by the non-indexation of the tax code against income growth. That €600 million forms part of the unallocated figure of €700 million-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is not in addition. It is not a figure of €1.3 billion.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is included within it.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes. To be completely clear, it involves row D in table 6, an unallocated figure of €700 million, which includes the €600 million to which the Deputy referred.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: That is in line with how I have handled unallocated resources in previous budgets.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is the case that no budgetary decisions have been made. We are beginning our budgetary process. Any decisions on the level of tax changes will depend on where we stand in the context of either of the two scenarios I outlined in the summer economic statement and on budget day decisions.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct. As already stated, unallocated resources of €700 million are illustrated from 2021 onwards and that figure includes the €600 million.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: There would be two key differences. One relates to policy and the other to the deficit impact. I will talk about the deficit impact first.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is a crucial difference.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I will preface this by stating that it is from a content point of view. The difference between a surplus of 0.4% and the deficit of up to 1.5% is significant, as the Deputy has acknowledged. That will be a key difference in terms of the policy content. From a policy content perspective, what the potential budgets would have in common is putting enough funding in place to ensure the current...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is about the policy composition of that €700 million. I also want to leave it open, however, because if we move into a budget day scenario whereby there is a risk of a disorderly Brexit, further funding will be needed in order to respond to changes that are likely to happen in our economy. The case could then be made to fund that via a larger deficit.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: There are two reasons for that. The first is a time-lag effect. The Deputy quoted the HSE's figures, which are available up to the end of April. However, my two Departments are also looking at expenditure from May and June. The second reason is that the figures I have here include both the HSE and the Department of Health. As matters stand, the figures to the end of June indicate an show...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy makes a fair point. There are different accounting systems in place but there is also a phasing issue in that we are dealing with a further two months. A huge amount of effort is being made to ensure that we manage health expenditure inside the budget day parameters. The latter point the Deputy made is correct. At times, in managing expenditure within the Department of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is stealing Deputy Pearse Doherty's thunder by asking me that question. I will come to him in a moment. I acknowledge that a debate has been caused by what I stated in the Dáil. When I indicated that it was in the base, I meant that it was in our outturns last year. The money was spent last year. The point Deputy Pearse Doherty has made subsequently, namely, that it is...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance (3 Jul 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal with some of the points the Deputy has raised in sequence. On where we are from a debt point of view, the Deputy will be aware that the NTMA issued its annual report yesterday. It is the key agency of the State involved in managing our stock of public debt. The overall trajectory of debt as a percentage of national income is positive. In 2019, that figure stands at 61% whereas...