Results 17,661-17,680 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: It is also true that there are estates that were built by several builders. In my city, there are estates where the first 70 houses were built by one builder, it went on again and a new guy came in, and then another guy came in. It would be treated as the one estate-----
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: -----but if there were different builders, it is reasonable to expect that the builders sourced their supplies from different sources.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: What I am saying is there is a mandate for exemption being enacted tomorrow in the Seanad and the application of that to see who is exempt will be a matter for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Also, one must remember that the tax is a self-assessment tax and people will put a value on their house when they are returning their form to the Revenue Commissioners.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: I am not accepting amendments without debate.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: There are many questions and I will try to get through them and be as helpful as I can.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: The big difference between pyrite damaged homes and homes that have a radon gas problem is that according to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the radon gas problem can be remediated at very low cost, whereas pyrite is far more expensive. I rely on the technical information on housing from the Department and the note it provided on radon gas states that high...
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: I know it is emotional but according to the technical people in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, if there are high levels of radon in a house, they can be fixed at low cost. A test to establish the level of radon in a house can be done for €56. This is a different case from pyrite, and while there will be an exemption for homes affected by pyrite,...
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: They have the same recognition.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: If somebody's sole income is social welfare, the deferral limits are €12,000 for a single person and €25,000 for a couple. On top of that is 80% of the interest paid on the mortgage. There is no social welfare payment that I know of which is in excess of those figures.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: The people for whom social welfare is their sole income may defer. We have done the calculations. If one was to defer for 20 years and pay the 4% interest at simple interest, one would owe less than 5% of the total value of the house by the time 20 years was up and whatever transaction would pass the house onto the next generation occurred. The deferral system is built in and of course, it...
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: I do not want to be hard on anybody and that is why the maxima to which I referred apply. This is a good and sensible tax as I think many Deputies privately recognise. Deputy Michael Healy Rae made a number of points but I did not fully understand the one regarding people living in houses with radon gas problems. Perhaps the Deputy could give me a note on it and I will check it out for him.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: I am not sure what point the Deputy was making but obviously if a house is impaired, it is relevant. It is similar to the point I made about flooding along the Tolka, which other Deputies raised. If a house is subject to flooding, it is reasonable when one is returning one's self-assessment to the Revenue Commissioners to allow for that fact, which takes the value down. However, I disagree...
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: A house is an expensive thing to run and if it was worth nothing, I would be meeting them on the road every day and they would be saying "I have a house for you Michael, here it is for you, it is only costing me money". We should not exaggerate the position. Everything has value and all we are asking is that people put a value on it. Obviously, if a residence is seriously impaired by the...
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: He said it might be because of process.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: Does the Deputy know of any case where legislation was deemed to be unconstitutional because Opposition Deputies did not have enough time to debate it? There were assumptions on the part of some Deputies that adapting a house to enable a disabled person to live there would increase the value of that house. That is not true because in many cases, the adaption of a house to suit disabled...
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: Members should check the record.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: The debate had collapsed.
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: There was no demand-----
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: There was no demand-----
- Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (5 Mar 2013)
Michael Noonan: -----at the end of the debate from anybody to speak. The Chief Whip put in Deputies to keep the debate going.