Results 23,301-23,320 of 26,986 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Financial Resolution No. 14: Capital Acquisitions Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Despite the attempts by certain people on the other side of the House to caricature this side, we take these issues seriously, considering the detail as much as possible in the short time available. I have a concern but I am unsure what to do about it given that, broadly speaking, these are progressive measures. Some of the increases do not distinguish between the small and big saver. I...

Financial Resolution No. 14: Capital Acquisitions Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes. The response from the Minister for Finance was that the process was too complicated. On the issue of a wealth tax, the answer, as we stated explicitly, was that we need a comprehensive register of wealth and assets to identify how wealth is distributed. All we have, however, are Central Bank figures which show the overall quantum of wealth, how much of it is financial and how much is...

Financial Resolution No. 9: Income Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The establishment closes ranks.

Financial Resolution No. 9: Income Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Fianna Fáil is a funny party.

Financial Resolution No. 9: Income Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have sympathy with the Government here. Whatever deficiencies there might be in the failure to address the issue of incomes in excess of €100,000, it is not a reason to vote against what is a progressive measure. There are genuine questions about the other two resolutions and I would appreciate explanations. I support this measure because to be hit with this extra level of...

Financial Resolution No. 9: Income Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Similarly, it is also true to say that there would have to be some deep scrutiny of how much one would gain from corporation tax, etc., although one would certainly be talking about billions of euro if one enforced the effective 12.5% rate. On the issue of increasing income taxes for those earning €100,000 or more, there is no dispute about how much it could raise. It merely depends...

Financial Resolution No. 9: Income Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On the yield, one would be taking approximately €1 million a year off somebody who is earning €3 million to €4 million a year. I do not have a difficulty with that.

Financial Resolution No. 9: Income Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There are approximately 120 of them, according to tables we received from the Department.

Financial Resolution No. 9: Income Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What I do not understand is, if the Government can do what is proposed in this resolution, which is a progressive measure, why could it not have increased to some degree, if not as much as we wished, the income tax for those earning more than €100,000 on some sort of progressive increasing scale? I have genuine questions for the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and...

Financial Resolution No. 9: Income Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I stated we would support it.

Financial Resolution No. 6: Income Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sorry His Whipness is not here to hear me say that we will support this measure because it is a marginally progressive move. It is a gesture or token towards being progressive and dealing with gross inequalities of wealth and income without any serious substance in the budget towards addressing these inequalities. I cannot say it better than Deputy Shortall because she hit the nail on...

Financial Resolution No. 5: Excise (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We have been consistent on these matters because we provided an alternative. As I tried to explain to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste earlier, none of these cuts would be necessary if they enforced the 12.5% corporate tax rate on the multinationals which are making tens of billions in profits and walking away with the loot.

Financial Resolution No. 5: Excise (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: That is our alternative.

Financial Resolution No. 5: Excise (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Alternatively, if it had imposed a fair and progressive income tax on those earning over €100,000, as we explained in our pre-budget submission, the Government could have raised €2.5 billion. It would not have needed to impose these cuts or attack families; it could have done it fairly and had money left over to fund a jobs programme.

Financial Resolution No. 5: Excise (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will be brief. As with many of the measures that are being introduced in the budget, and in the previous budget, the Taoiseach will try to provide a specific justification or rationale for particular tax increases. He will try to make them sound more palatable when in reality they are just further overwhelmingly regressive austerity measures that are being imposed on ordinary families....

Financial Resolution No. 5: Excise (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On that point, your whipness, in response to what Deputy Sean Fleming said-----

Financial Resolution No. 2: Tobacco Products Tax (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will try to be brief to give the other Deputies time. This measure has nothing to do with public health, but it has everything to do with grabbing more money in a regressive way that will yet again hit the least well off. This will hit those on the lowest incomes. It is precisely the gross inequalities in our society, widespread unemployment and poverty that will fuel addiction to...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I wish I could say otherwise but today is another day of shame for this Government. It is not a day of hard choices, as it kept repeating. It is a day of cruel choices inflicted by those who are protecting the privileged and the powerful on those who are struggling and in despair. It is a day when it has driven tens of thousands of families who were teetering on the edge of poverty into...

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: What changes?

Financial Resolutions 2013 - Budget Statement 2013 (5 Dec 2012)

Richard Boyd Barrett: A Cheann Comhairle, on a point of order-----