Results 8,021-8,040 of 26,901 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: That seems okay but the Minister might explain the stepping of the different percentages and why that might be higher or lower for one or the other. What is the logic of that?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Before the Minister comes back on that, the second issue about which a complaint was made is that when deciding whether somebody should be in the RCT1 system, and it is quite technical, as I understand it there are criteria as to whether they fit into the RCT1 category. Many building workers are saying they do not fit into that category but they are being put into it by the principal...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Less risky in what regard?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I am not suggesting there is. The objective seems to be good but I want to know if it is strong enough and if it deals with some of the problems it is alleged exist in this area.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: The effect of this amendment section is that if a charity or eligible organisation is struck off the charity register, a person who made a donation to that charity in good faith and for which they received a tax break, prior to the charity being struck off, will still get the benefit of the tax break or write-off. Something, someone or several people must have prompted the Minister to...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: The thrust of the proposed amendment gets at something very important on which, apart from anything else, the public needs clarity. We have had a range of estimates of what the actual real effective corporate tax rate is for companies in this country, and frankly the dizzying array of estimates could do nothing other than confuse people as to the reality. The Minister of State in his...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: It is 7.7% for domestic companies. This is another figure to add to the list. We have 2%, 6.2%, 6.8%, 8%, 10.9%, and the figure of 14% was bandied about at one stage, which was truly mystifying. Revenue's CTS1 statistics table on corporate tax tells its own story, and the suggestions that corporations pay anywhere close to 12.5% are exposed when one looks at the CTS1 table. Revenue...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister of State says the Government is looking into it, taking it seriously and all the rest of it. I accept that more work has been done on it. One might argue that this has happened as a result of the big international movement in this area and the questioning, for the first time, of the consensus around low corporate tax rates by some people who have come to the Oireachtas. The...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I do not think the Minister is a fool. However, the Government and the Minister have hidden the truth about the complicity of the Irish tax system in aggressive tax avoidance by major multinationals. There can be no doubt about that. A two-tiered approach to a taxation liability was underlying this. In general, in the tax code, if a company was incorporated here it was liable to tax here....
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: This is the section that deals with it. It is important to put down a marker and let the public know that multinationals that have been engaged in aggressive tax avoidance are going to be allowed to persist in that for another six years. There are questions over whether the Government is working hand-in-glove with multinationals to ensure, after the six year period expires, the successor...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: They pay more tax than the multinationals.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I have one final straightforward question. Why give them six years?
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Give them the certainty of paying a bit more tax.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: The point was made on budget night by a small number of Deputies and me that increasing the cost of tobacco is just another regressive hit at lower and middle income families who are already in difficulty. We do not buy the argument that it is a health measure but that it is primarily about a Revenue raising grab which disproportionately hits the less well off. I wish to record that...
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Chair for his concern for my health.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I am well aware that smoking is a very bad habit. I know I should give it up but I am not entirely sure that is the purpose of this budgetary measure.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I find it a little bizarre that the Minister seems to be saying this is largely coming from Europe. If it is coming from there it is also bizarre policy on its part. To exempt green fees from membership clubs, whatever about not-for-profit-----
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: It is in section 63.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I am making the contrast.
- Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I am speaking about the amendment because I am contrasting the two. To go beyond Irish dancing, my kids did breakdancing in a place in north Dublin which went out of business. It was a brilliant school with hundreds of kids, but struggled because of the recession. It did its best to stay above water. I did not even consider the VAT issue. Following from what the Minister stated, it would...