Results 7,341-7,360 of 33,392 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The Senator’s recommendations refer to reports on first, the tapering out of income tax credits at certain incomes and, second, the introduction of a high income levy. First, regarding tapering of income tax credits, there is already a substantial amount of research published on this subject. The income tax reform plan published by my Department in July 2016 examined this issue due...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: There is a fundamental difference here. The two Senators will always see work as something to be taxed at a higher level. They will always see companies, entrepreneurs and innovation as things to get more tax from. They, frankly, ignore the fact that other countries want the innovative companies that are located in Ireland. That is an inescapable fact of having a small, open economy in...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: A person earning €140,000 is already paying a higher average rate of tax. That is already the case. Politicians such as me who believe we have tax structures at the moment that are fair and effective, and that play a role in ensuring those who have more pay more, do a disservice to those beliefs if we do not challenge the views we are hearing from our colleagues here. Let me repeat...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Senator will be aware, this change was proposed in an amendment during Report Stage of the Bill in Dáil Éireann. However, allow me to set out once again why I believe the introduction of such a relief is not appropriate. On Report Stage in the Dáil, Deputy Pearse Doherty noted correctly that relief in respect of rent paid by private tenants was previously available....

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I fully appreciate that we have huge challenges in the rental sector. I understand the anxiety and stress faced by many tenants who find their rents going up and are worried about whether they will have rental accommodation in the future. The Senator makes the case that we have huge difficulties in the rental sector, as we do. At the same time, we are at the point at which "landlord" has...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: A whole variety of issues have been raised in this debate, from the taxation of REITs and IREFs to the issue of taxes on capital raised by Senator McDowell. I will say a word about each of the points I have heard. I will begin with Senator McDowell's point regarding the level of transactions we have in our economy being influenced, in the first place, by the level of tax on those...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Sinn Féin quoted a paper from the Department of Finance. I was discourteous when Senators were speaking because I did not have the report to hand and wanted to get it so I could read out to Sinn Féin the conclusions of the report. I will not have papers from my Department being selectively quoted from to make arguments that the Department and I disagree with. The Senator quotes...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Senator Higgins raised the performance of the large cases division in the Revenue Commissioners. I am committed to coming back to her in the context of the debate. The high-wealth individuals division is dealing with approximately 2,700 high net worth taxpayers. This also includes spouses and related entities. On average, the division carries out between 250 and 300 interventions per...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: It is precisely because of the planetary boundary, as Senator Higgins described it, that the Government decided to go ahead with an increase in carbon taxation. The Government could have done the easy thing. My fellow Ministers in Cabinet and the Deputies who support this Government could have said the price of energy is going up at a time when many families and businesses are facing...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a €20 million scheme.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a €20 million scheme. The Senator has been quoting figures of €400 million.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The Senator is comparing apples with pears. We are discussing the diesel rebate scheme, which is worth €20 million. The figures the Senator has produced are the difference in taxation between diesel and petrol. That is the €400 million figure. That figure is the disparity between the taxation of diesel and petrol. It is not the diesel rebate scheme. The diesel rebate...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: In that case, the Senator is supporting the equalisation of tax on petrol and diesel.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Given the concerns the Senator had regarding the impact of this measure on families and hard-pressed businesses, if she is proposing that on top of the change in carbon tax we should also equalise taxation between diesel and petrol, that is quite an argument to make. Many businesses, taxpayers and families are facing challenges at the moment. It is not an argument I would make or something...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not sure if you are doubling down or rowing back.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not sure what you are doing.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not sure what the Senator is doing. She quoted a figure of €400 million but that is not the value of the diesel rebate scheme. That scheme is worth €20 million. The €400 million figure is the cost of equalising the tax on diesel and petrol. If that is what the Senator is supporting, I am sure she will inform the House. If it is, I candidly say to her that it is...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am clear that the cost of equalisation is €400 million for the equalisation of tax on diesel and petrol.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: No. I will conclude on the following point. I can see the value of the thrust of what the Senator is referring to. We need to look at how we can phase out fossil fuel subsidies over time and where we can. The Senator made a point about a roadmap for how we would consider whether we can do it and how we would do it. Under the climate action plan, the deadline for the production of that...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: We are committed to reviewing that rebate scheme. I have to do it each year as part of the normal tax decisions we make in the budget. Perhaps the record of what I said earlier will have to be corrected but I think what I said to the Senator was that it sounded to me like she was proposing the immediate or gradual removal of the lower level of tax on diesel versus petrol. I think I said...