Results 20,721-20,740 of 27,080 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Apologies.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I did. As I said yesterday, notwithstanding the Minister's replies the decision to invite these vulture funds, investment vehicles and property speculators into this country, supposedly to assist the housing sector, will, when the history books are written, turn out to be the most disastrous decision ever taken. Frankly, it is the biggest heist on the Irish people and has contributed to one...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The problem is that large numbers of Irish workers owe more money than they have. They do not have money to save. If the pension model that we have for the future is such that one third of workers contribute towards their own pensions, then two thirds will not. They cannot afford to because they are paying the USC, to name just one of many outgoings. If the pension model that the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: People with fairly large earnings are benefiting substantially from the reliefs. To my mind, fairness requires a different model that addresses this situation where the bulk of the reliefs go to higher earners. Unlike some, I am not proposing standard rating because that would still hit workers in the middle. Something that we proposed was reducing the pensions earning limit from...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 23: In page 20, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following: “16. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the revenue gained from increasing corporation tax to 25 per cent for corporations with over €800,000 in profits and in closing loopholes that exist that allow...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The translation from-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Exactly. The Government has, under pressure, had to move towards a higher nominal rate of corporate tax. It fought hard to minimise the extent of any increase as part of the OECD and G20 process for raising corporate tax, particularly railing against the idea that there might be any latitude to go beyond 15%. I do not agree with the Government's position on that because I think it is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is no problem.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We do not often get a chance to debate these issues. We do not make any apologies about using the opportunity in the Finance Bill and the budget to do so. It is entirely legitimate. While I am not satisfied that the 15% rate that we have gone to is sufficient, it has happened because of pressure, to be clear. It was pressure from the few in this country who were willing to question the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Is the Minister telling me there is a tax rebate for that?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Essentially, it is my mum.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Exactly.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 24: In page 20, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following: "Reports 16.Before the publication of the Finance Act 2021, the Minister shall lay a report before Dáil Éireann, on the impact of the change of the corporate tax rate to 15 per cent, what the effective rate has been and if it has meant that the loopholes, exemptions and reliefs are not being...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On section 16 itself-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: -----can the Minister tell us how many vacant residential premises have come back into use as a result of this tax relief? I do not have any evidence to back it up, but there is a concern that it could perversely provide an incentive to leave a residential premises vacant for a period so that it is vacant long enough to avail of the tax relief. In order to benefit, it has to be vacant for a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The amendment is to exclude data centres.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We want a report. We want to see how data centres benefit and how much additional revenue we would raise by excluding them from these accelerated capital allowances. That is in the context of our wider belief that it runs completely counter to our climate objectives for the Government to continue to facilitate the construction of data centres which are going to suck up enormous amounts of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Obviously our intent is to completely discourage the further construction of data centres. If I understand the Minister correctly, they do not benefit specifically because they are data centres, but as data centres they can benefit in terms of the equipment that they purchase as part of their establishment. That is pretty much what I think the Minister is saying and he does not know the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I appreciate the explanation, but pardon me if what is happening here is still less than crystal clear. Transfer pricing rules are attempting to deal with some of the things we discussed earlier, such as the tax avoidance strategies we know companies engage in whereby there are multiple companies associated with each other within a particular group. The Minister is saying there are checks...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I ask that they also be circulated to non-members.