Results 5,121-5,140 of 33,883 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: But they benefit from the credits.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: We are discussing the change in the standard rate cut-off point. The median income is below the level at which the change in the standard rate cut-off point applies, which is why we have made the change in the tax credits. I also dispute the Deputy's figure for the number of people who will benefit. I am making the case to the committee, because I believe it to be the case, that more than...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, it is the case.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: In cash terms, they will not see a difference.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It is not "in Paschal's head", Deputy. I am talking about the people I meet who are plumbers, gardaí or early in their careers who are on €39,000 or €40,000 and are paying the higher rate of income tax.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: That is not a figment of my imagination. It is a structural issue that we should change. The Deputy and I have different views on it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: What I am proposing-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy made a point about median earnings. Does he accept that the average income in our economy is €46,000 per person?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: But the Deputy would-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Just as I accept the Deputy's good faith in the quoting of numbers, does he accept my good faith when I tell him that the average wage in our economy in the first quarter of 2022 was €46,000?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Does the Deputy believe it appropriate that someone on the average wage already pays the higher rate of income tax?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: So the Deputy accepts that it is not appropriate that someone on the average wage should be on the higher rate of income.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Under Sinn Féin's proposals, someone earning €37,685 would have a benefit of €313 per annum and under the proposals contained in this budget, somebody who is on the same level of income would gain more, with a benefit of €368.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: No, I am not.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is pivoting into the approach again where he is trying to make me a member of an elite who does not understand what it is like for people who are on an average wage. That is what the Deputy's approach is but I would challenge the Deputy-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I have explained the policy rationale behind it to the Deputy. The Deputy has been good enough to acknowledge that the average wage in our country is €46,000. He accepts that it is important to make progress and to try to-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It will be a long few hours if every time I try to respond to Deputy Doherty-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Even before I had completed my answer to the Deputy, he said I was putting words in his mouth. We have a long few days ahead of us, which I am looking forward to, but I ask the Deputy to allow me to finish the point I am making. The Deputy is quoting median earnings and I have acknowledged that his figures are correct. I am talking about average earnings.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy used median earnings.