Results 8,741-8,760 of 33,175 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Senator for the range of questions. I will deal with the first question, which was on the issue of vacant properties. What the revaluation will lead to is that for the first time homeowners will be asked to declare if a property is vacant and will be asked on the IT portal to register for the tax to declare if a property is vacant and indicate a reason the vacancy is occurring....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The Commission and many of my colleagues in ECOFIN are very much aware of the need to take care in the application of fiscal rules in the future because of the investment and demand stimulation needed now and for the foreseeable future. While it is fair to say we probably approach the debate from different starting points, which is fine and the way politics should operate, a common ground at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: As I stated in reply to Deputy Doherty on a number of occasions, that is correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I would be very happy to speak to the Deputy about that. As he said, the allocation of the funding is a matter for the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. The Deputy raised an important point in his contribution, which is that if councillors make a decision to leave LPT unchanged and not make use of the LAF to reduce it, and if some even apply the LAF in an upwards direction, we should give...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Could you give me literally a 30-second-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I just have to resolve something in the location in which I am sitting and then I will be right back to you.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes. I am sorry. To avoid any mystery, the window behind me was open-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I just wanted it shut. I could have left the session in worse condition physically than I did when I entered it, which I know none of you would want. Back to you, and thank you for the 30 seconds, Chair.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I knew Deputy Tóibín would be relieved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: In response to Deputy Tóibín's first question, I accept that the issue of vacant homes is one we have to consider far more actively now in light of the great housing challenges we have and our need to provide homes for more people. It is important to understand the scale of this issue and why this vacancy is occurring in the first place. This is why the local property tax return...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not believe that it will, when these changes are implemented. In fact, one of the changes that we have made in the LPT structure and the banding of the LPT, is that we have increased the breadth of the entry band for local property tax up to €200,000. One of the reasons I have done that is the risk that was there of homes that had a lower value than the national average could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Currently, the definition of residential property leaves open the question of the part of the allowable acre that is to be valued. This is currently at variance with the treatment applied in relation to the capital gains tax exemption for the disposal of a person's principal private residence. That is under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and the definition of residential property for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I will come back to the Deputy with a note regarding that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The six-year period is the period of exemption that we made available when dealing with similar issues in other parts of the country. I expect that the Government will have to act in a way to have the matter dealt with for as many homeowners as we can within a six-year period. That six-year exemption period is exactly the same as we have granted for a similar issue in other parts of the country.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I will get that for the Deputy in two minutes. If he would be good enough to go on to his next question I will come back to him with the information very quickly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not sure what the link is between that and pre-legislative scrutiny of the local property tax Bill. Because I understood that was the issue I was coming in to address, I am not in a position to give the Deputy an up-to-date answer to the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: To deal with the question the Deputy put to me earlier, the current value of the deferrals in 2021 was €8.7 million. It made reference to 45,800 claims and out of those claims the rationale that the vast majority put forward for it was that their income was below a certain level.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: None that I am aware of.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: This particular option was only due to be available until the end of 2019 and was a recommendation that came from the Thornhill report. This is a recommendation that came from the central review of local property tax. Mortgage interest relief was brought in at a time in which interest rates on mortgages, particularly for new applicants, were much higher than they are at the moment. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (7 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Could the Senator clarify that a bit more?