Results 2,141-2,160 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: 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.

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

Michael Noonan: I am arguing, as the Deputy agreed earlier, that a narrowing of the tax base over a period - where significant amounts of money would be involved - would leave us open to the kind of shocks we were open to when the previous Government but one narrowed the tax base during the Celtic tiger era. Although that Government thought it had the resources to do so, transactional taxes, particularly...

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

Michael Noonan: Some 42% would be outside completely on the basis of this. What was the figure?

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

Michael Noonan: They are €335 million in the first year and €390 million in a full year. I agree with the Deputy's approach. The Government's approach is that as the economy grows, there is extra tax buoyancy. Between 2016 and 2017, this amounts to about €2.5 billion. This will be used to improve public services and reduce personal taxes. By and large, that is what the Government's...

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

Michael Noonan: A substantial amount of analysis covering some of the groups listed by the Deputy has already been published or is due to be published shortly. This week, the Department of Social Protection will publish the social impact assessment of the welfare and income tax measures in budget 2017, presenting the overall distributional impact of the budget by income group and family type. It will also...

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

Michael Noonan: One third.

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

Michael Noonan: I am providing for an increase of €400 in the earned income credit bringing it up to a value of €950. The €400 increase gives a benefit of more than €7 a week to those eligible for the credit, in addition to the benefits they receive from other elements of the budget package such as the USC reductions. In view of the limited resources available in budget 2017 and...

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

Michael Noonan: The programme for Government contains a commitment to continue the phasing out of USC in the medium term and, as part of this process, to consider the removal of the PAYE tax credit for high earners to limit the benefit to them of the phasing out. This is included to ensure fairness and remove a scenario where there would be a disproportionate benefit for higher earners. Therefore, one...

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

Michael Noonan: Section 5 introduces a new tax credit for fishermen which is aimed at assisting the viability of the fishing sector and attracting and retaining workers in the industry. The tax credit is worth €1,270 and available to active fishers which I understand is a new gender neutral word to describe fishermen and fisherwomen who spend at least 80 days a year at sea engaged in fishing for wild...

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

Michael Noonan: I agree. The amendment is drafted sufficiently closely to achieve that end. We can agree it as drafted.

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

Michael Noonan: The credit is ade minimiscredit. This refers to the state aid guidelines, which hold that if a tax relief is below a certain limit, it does not require approval in advance. The de minimis limit for the fisheries sector per undertaking is €30,000 over any period of three fiscal years. This compares to the de minimis limit of €15,000 over three years for agriculture. This...

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

Michael Noonan: As Deputies may be aware, the marine taxation review was completed by Indecon late last year. This has already been referenced by a number of Deputes. The report was submitted to the Departments of Finance; Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Transport, Tourism and Sport; and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The review followed from the agri-tax review that was completed the previous year...

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

Michael Noonan: The general position is that these special provisions for sportspersons are related to the short period during which a sportsperson is active. The reliefs available would not apply to taxpayers in general who have a full working career of 35 or 40 years. According to the note provided to me, the sportsperson's relief is based on ten previous years of earnings, during which the sportsperson...

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

Michael Noonan: As different reliefs are available in different jurisdictions, I cannot answer the question in terms of detail.