Results 24,741-24,760 of 27,019 for speaker:Michael Noonan

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: The Government has no plans to introduce a wealth tax, although all taxes and potential taxation options are constantly reviewed. Wealth can be taxed in a variety of ways, some of which are already in place. Capital gains tax, CGT, and capital acquisitions tax, CAT, are, in effect, taxes on wealth, given that they are levied on an individual or company on the disposal of an asset in the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I am not proposing the introduction of a wealth tax. I do not favour a wealth tax. There are, as I outlined in my initial reply, various taxes that apply to wealth already in the Irish tax code and I am not proposing to change those either. The paper, which will be presented in Dublin Castle on 23 November, is a joint paper between the ESRI and the Department of Finance. It will aim to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I thank Deputies for their contributions. Certainly, high marginal tax rates have an effect on employment. If one taxes something, one tends to get less of it, and if one reduces taxes on something, one tends to get more of it. We tax tobacco products because we want people to smoke less. We tax alcohol because we want people to be more moderate in their use of alcohol. If one puts penal...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I am not sure I can shed much light on the discussion but I might add a little heat. I was asked if there was economic evidence to support the theory that high marginal tax rates have an adverse effect on growth and employment. The large body of economic literature documents the evidence on the responses of different groups to the tax schedule and, in particular, the marginal tax rate. The...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Deputy Doherty constantly misquotes what happened. His charge before the break was that I had said that it was not an emergency measure.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: What I said was that it was not a temporary measure. I will quote from the income tax reform plan from the Department of Finance. It states:Up to Budget 2008, Government policy with regard to income tax was to increase tax credits and bands to the point where 40% of income earners were exempt from income tax, and only 20% of earners were liable to the higher rate of income tax. This...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Deputy Doherty is the person who has changed his views since 2011. At that stage, Deputy Doherty put down a motion to abolish the USC because it was an abusive tax and all manner of strange things that he recited subsequently.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Deputy Doherty did not answer it. He obfuscated.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Chairman, I have not. Do not reinforce the views of the Deputy. I have not avoided it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I have answered it. That is the point I am making.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Now the left is helping the left. Deputy Doherty has gone to the Trotskyites to support his case. I thought he was in the Stalinist tradition.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Yes, I was reflecting the intention of the Minister at the time.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Not when it was introduced.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: No, I am standing over the fact that when the then Minister, Mr. Lenihan, introduced the USC, he never intended that it was to be a temporary measure. That is fair.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: People going to work in a particular jurisdiction take a range of factors into account but we would have a lot of information from IDA Ireland and from individual cases to show that one of the factors when a family decides to return to Ireland is they look at the bottom line on what would be their take-home pay. While the gross figures might be attractive, the bottom line, when one allows...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: We do many surveys and reviews but that would put too narrow a focus on why one reduces personal taxes. We do not reduce personal taxes purely so more women will go back to work. We can see it would be a consequence of the reduction and that not to do it would be an obstacle to entry into the labour force. However, there is a generality of the workforce and it simply needs a reduction in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: I will consider it but there are many reports and assessments being requested in the course of this Finance Bill. I do not want to burden the Department of Finance unduly either. We will consider it between now and Report Stage and I will revert to the Deputy about it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: Child care is a matter for the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, and child benefit is a matter for the Minister for Social Protection. It is not really within my remit and any assessment of the effectiveness of policy for the care of children should be centred in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Much of the conversation here is very interesting but it is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: It would appear from the wording of the proposed amendment that it is the Deputy's intention that all those earning up to €380 per week - somewhat above the earnings of a full-time worker on the new minimum wage of approximately €361 per week - would be exempt from the charge of USC entirely. It is unclear whether the Deputy also intends that this amendment would consider all...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (9 Nov 2016)

Michael Noonan: In the previous amendment, the whole basis of the Deputy's argument was that I was narrowing the tax base. Now, the Deputy wants to narrow the tax base. The same arguments which he made against what I was saying would apply to him.