Results 9,701-9,720 of 26,897 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We fundamentally disagree. I do not think people's family homes can be considered wealth in the same way as people who have two, three or four houses - besides their family home - and rent those out to make money. For me, those rented houses are wealth-generating assets. People putting a roof over their head is surely just doing a basic thing needed to exist in society. I do not see that...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Not drawing a distinction between these two things is the problem. There clearly is a difference between a home in which people live and worked hard to pay for because they needed it to live in. There are only a few ways for people to get an affordable roof over their heads in our society. There is a major difference, however, when we then consider people who own second, third, fourth,...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, I am.

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 30: In page 130, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following: “Report on relief for investment in film 74.Within 6 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall produce a report on section 481 of the Principal Act and its relation to developing quality employment in the film industry.”. My brain is addled at this stage.

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Deputies will be glad to hear that this is my last amendment and this is one where we have a bit more common ground. I genuinely thank the Minister for engaging with me on the issue of the 481 tax relief for the film industry. I refer to the extent to which it needs, should and is required to contribute to quality employment and training in the film industry and the development of that...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 29: In page 130, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following: “Report on local property tax 74.Within 6 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall produce a report on the local property tax and its implications for funding for local authorities.”. The property tax is still a live issue and nobody should fool themselves politically...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: He had to eat fish and chips because he could not buy any Irish moss and felt pretty ill because of it.

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I was late to the debate as I was speaking to the protestors outside Leinster House who work in this sector and are very concerned about these proposals. My Irish Solidarity-People Before Profit colleague Deputy Gino Kenny has worked on this issue in more depth than I have. I am interested in hearing the Minister's response to the points we have raised, particularly in respect of those...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will wait for the Minister. I want to hear what he has to say.

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I assure the Minister that I am very sincere about addressing climate change. Our policy is very detailed. We have just produced an extensive document on it and our budget submission, which we produce every year, also shows precisely how we will pay for it in a whole range of areas. I will not deal with them all now, but it includes aviation fuel charges, for example. That would raise a...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I do not see how the Minister can say that they will be protected when they clearly are not protected as it stands and I cannot see any measures here to protect the 400,000 households living in fuel poverty. Many or most of them cannot afford to do the retrofit they would like to do, which would improve their quality of life. They just cannot afford it and in some cases they would not be...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 18: In page 97, after line 32, to insert the following: “Report on carbon tax 40.Within 6 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall produce a report on the carbon tax, fuel poverty and income inequality.”. Our opposition to the carbon tax is well known. It is not necessary when opposing an unjust, regressive and counterproductive tax to...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There is a global move for such corporations to start paying their taxes, and we should not be the laggards on the matter, but we are. Even though we know the curtain is starting to come down on the corporations, we think we should try to get as much as we can out of it before it does. That is a mistake, however, because we could get more by getting ahead of the curve than by being the...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will comment briefly. It is around the area of whether the effective rate of corporation tax in this country is as the Minister stated or whether it is not that the debate centres. I dispute it because the Minister is referring to taxable income after all the reliefs, exemptions and deductions in the list I referred to have been applied. To me, the essence of the problem is the total...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 16: In page 92, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following: "Report on minimum effective corporate tax rate 34.Within 6 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall produce a report on establishing a minimum effective corporate tax rate of 12.5 per cent.". When people go to the Revenue website to look at corporate tax reliefs they get a table in a...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I seriously challenge anybody to read the figures in this table. This is with regard to access to important information. This is public money that is every bit as real as money that is announced in every budget to great fanfare, much public attention and scrutinised heavily with regard to the amount spent directly on health or education and allocated to various Departments. Depending on...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I will press it.

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The vast majority of the increase in household wealth is in the value of property assets, as the Minister of State has acknowledged. Financial assets are significant at €374 billion but there is €534 billion in housing assets. The Minister of State argues that if we impose a wealth tax, these people might move out of the country and take their assets with them. They could not...

Finance Bill 2019: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Sometimes we are so focused on individual measures we do not take the time to step back and look at the big picture in terms of the economy, the amount of wealth that exists in the economy, who gets the benefit of that wealth, how it is distributed, and whether it is distributed fairly. The only opportunity to do that is during the Finance Bill, which is why I have tabled a series of...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (20 Nov 2019)

Richard Boyd Barrett: As I informed the Business Committee a few days ago, grassroots housing activists are planning a housing demonstration on 5 December and have requested that Deputies, rather than attending the demonstration, have a debate in the House on solutions to the housing crisis. I hope that debate will be arranged. There are many reasons that people wish to protest, including the welfare of...