Results 6,461-6,480 of 36,118 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I would say it is absolutely not acceptable. In the teeth of a housing crisis that reply just shows that the Minister has got it all wrong. The reference period has already started but before the legislation has passed, the Minister has come up with a figure for how must tax the measure will raise but he has no idea what outcomes he wants, which is why we in Sinn Féin and others on the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: It will not be done before the Minister leaves his position, as he told us earlier on, so it will not be done before 17 December.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Let me make this point because I do not think the penny has dropped with the Minister during his period as Minister for Finance. We have been in an emergency for years and, as a result, we expect emergency measures. Today, on 16 November, the Minister has said he will be the Minister for Finance for another month and a day but he might not get around to setting targets or having the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I do not know how the Minister can say this measure will work because the only measurement he has set is the amount of tax it will bring in. He and his Cabinet colleagues have no measurement or any other way to measure whether it will work or none that he is willing to offer or write down on a piece of paper during his time as Minister for Finance. I understand why that is the case, and it...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: It will raise €3 million to €4 million.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: What is the average charge?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: There are 166,000 vacant premises. The Minister estimates that approximately 6,000, if not fewer, will be registered?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: We have different numbers regarding all of this. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, has talked about 166,000 vacant properties as per the preliminary results of its census. The Minister expects to get 6,000 of the 166,000 properties the CSO identified. Is that right?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Is there any concern that when the Minister for Finance asked people to tell him how many vacant properties they had so that he could charge them tax, they might have under-represented their properties in their self-assessed forms?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister is targeting 6,200 properties. Is that what he said? He believes-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: That leaves 51,000 properties declared vacant on local property tax returns on which the Minister believes tax will not be paid. Is that correct?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Did the local property tax survey or any further survey try to ascertain the reason for vacancy?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I expect that many of the holiday homes in the State will actually fall under the vacant property tax given the 30-days provision. Does the Minister not agree?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Most people with holiday homes may come to it for a week or two weeks in the summer. They might also spend a weekend in it here and there. Even four weeks will not satisfy this provision so such properties will come under this tax.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: That is my point. I am saying that the tax will arise in respect of a large number of holiday homes because they are not used as frequently as that. Some people are down in their holiday homes every weekend but others will not be used as much.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I will ask the Minister about some of the detail of the section. Deputy Matthews talked about uninhabitable properties earlier. There are different pieces of legislation regarding the household charge going back to 2011 and the local property tax. However, the definition here is "in use as a dwelling" as opposed to "habitable". The dwelling must be in use for 30 days. I am curious about...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I have a couple of other questions. What penalty is applied to people who fail to declare that their property is vacant and therefore do not pay what they are liable to on 1 January 2024? Does that penalty increase each year? If we take somebody whose liability was €500 who did not self-declare in the first year, that person would have an accumulated liability of €1,000 in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: How will the €100 apply? Will the Minister explain that to me again?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Can the Minister compare the 8% interest charge in respect of somebody who does not declare and pay his or her liability in respect of a vacant house to the non-principal private residence charge, which was on a monthly basis, or the household charge? I think the household charge was set at 8% but I know that when it went over to Revenue it increased.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Business of Select Committee (16 Nov 2022)

Pearse Doherty: How does the late payment fee compare with the household charge? The late payment fee in respect of the household charge is quite significant, given the length of time that people should have paid it. The late payment fee in respect of the non-principal private residence charge was, I think, charged on the basis of a month.