Results 20,421-20,440 of 35,829 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Section 9 refers to the special assignee relief programme, SARP. We rehearsed this debate on Second Stage. I am unconvinced that the scheme works, is desirable or value for money. The Revenue Commissioners have told us that 302 people availed of SARP in 2014 and it cost the Exchequer €5.9 million. That is an important figure when we put it in the context of the strife and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: We can dice up the figures however we want. These 302 employees are getting €20,000 in tax relief that is available to them and not to any Irish citizen. That is the key point. There is a €20,000 reduction in tax on average and each of these people has to be earning in excess of €75,000. We know the rules of SARP. They are that 30% of a person's income between...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister would have heard my reservations and opposition with regard to this scheme in the past. My reservations are around a number of proposals that the Minister has introduced. At the beginning it was a limited scheme that was targeted at the BRIC countries, and the argument was put forward that these were emerging markets and that we needed to encourage exports into these emerging...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: My last question relates to the extension of the scheme for a three-year period to 2020. The scheme has morphed into something never intended when it was first introduced in the Finance Bill 2012. Basically, it now covers most of the globe or a large part of the globe whereas it was focused on the BRIC countries originally, in other words, Brazil, Russia, India and China. Does the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The conclusions of the review included the opinion that while it could not be definitively stated that the existence of the foreign earnings introduction had led to an increase in exports to the qualifying countries, there was a consensus among stakeholders that the FED should be extended and enhanced to support SMEs trying to expand exports into emerging markets. The first part of this...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: My amendment was ruled out of order. I urge the Minister to consider it. I realise we cannot put forward amendments that may have a cost on the Exchequer or the people. I urge the Minister to consider my amendment. It does not abolish the scheme. Indeed, the scheme is being extended under section 11 for a further two years. The scheme benefits a number of claimants. In 2014, a total...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: That is appreciated.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: May we discuss the other amendments? Is it correct that a drawdown of 5% will be the imputed distribution on a vested PRSA?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The imputed distribution is the same as an ARF. The legislation will deem a PRSA vested on the 75th birthday of the owner of the PRSA. The ARF has an imputed distribution of 4% at the age of 61 and 5% at the age of 71, but if the legislation forces it to be vested at 75, the 4% will not be applicable.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that and I welcome the substance of the amendment and the amendment to the amendment. The issue I want to deal with is twofold so I will separate it out. One is on the vesting of the PRSA and the date at which it happens. I then want to discuss the transfer of the assets on death and how that will apply. I will focus on the first part of it first. If one has an ARF, there is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: A person does not have to vest but the whole point with an imputed distribution is that regardless of whether he or she draws down the money from the pension fund, there has to be a calculation made that a certain proportion of it is drawn down and the person has to pay tax on that. It goes to the spirit of pension tax relief, whether we agree with it or not. It is deemed as deferred...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The situation with the imputed tax is that if one draws down the benefits, one will have to pay the tax. The legislation provides that if a person does not draw down the benefits because he or she has other income from other sources and does not need to draw down the benefit and the intention is to pass it on to the family either tax free or as a sum more generous than transferring cash from...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The second part is on the transfer of the PRSA to a family member after death. Prior to this, one was able to transfer it tax free. Now it will be deemed to have the same standing as an approved retirement fund, ARF. My question is on the tax treatment of the passing of ARFs to family members. Somebody with a PRSA of €2 million, that is a pension pot of €2 million, has built...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Why is there a difference between transferring a PRSA to a person under 21 and one over 21? That could create an anomaly given that under existing law, the first €280,000 would be exempt from CAT, whereas if one is 21 years of age, one has to pay. If a PRSA was transferred of €300,000 from a father to a daughter, the first €280,000 would be exempt and the other...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I will leave it at that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 66:In page 23, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following:"14.The Minister shall, within one month of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on options for the abolition of the Local Property Tax.". Amendment No. 66 supports our position that the local property tax, LPT, should be abolished. We believe it is not an...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister gave no indication of the recommendations of the 83-page report by Dr. Thornhill on needed reforms in 13 areas or when they would be carried out. All we have at this point in time is a date in November 2019 when the revaluation of the LPT liability will take place. All of us in this room know what that means. It means that nearly every household in the State will see an...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I take the point and we can leave the amendments aside for a moment. There is the figure of 4% and the late payment is 8%, so it is usually a once-off when a person has not paid on time or decided not to pay and so on. The problem with the 4% figure is that it continues. It could apply to a person with a very low income, such as a pensioner, but with an expensive house in Dublin. The...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 69:In page 23, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following:“14. The Minister shall, within six months from the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on options available to restrict banks from carrying forward losses against taxable profits of the banks, which could result in many institutions paying no tax for the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The amendment is very clear. It asks the Minister to lay before the House a report on the options to restrict banks carrying forward losses against their taxable profits. These banks caused massive pain in this country. They are now profitable and should pay tax on those profits like anybody else. For the Minister to introduce measures in previous Acts which allowed them to carry over...