Results 13,181-13,200 of 26,901 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: When we discuss the amendment on intangible assets tomorrow, we will discuss the specifics of one particular loophole. I suggest the Minister read Mr. Seamus Coffey's papers on this issue. He points out, for example, that following their introduction, the other changes in the area of intangible assets provided for in successive budgets from 2009 onwards applied to all claims made under the...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Let us be absolutely clear: we want jobs, if there are decent well-paid jobs, from wherever they might come. However, those companies making astronomical profits should pay a fair share in taxes. The Minister has yet again quoted figures to do with effective rates and so on. I will put some figures to the Minister. In 2015 the figure for gross trading profits plus other income equalled...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: He suggested we could do it by closing the loopholes.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 32:In page 30, after line 40, to insert the following:“19.The Minister shall within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Dáil a report on the impact of Irish Real Estate Funds and Real Estate Investment Trusts on the Irish Property and Housing sector and the effective tax rates on the profits paid by these entities and their...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 34:In page 30, after line 40, to insert the following: "19.(1) The Minister shall within 6 months of the passing of this Act, bring a report on the potential to raise additional Corporation Tax revenue by closing down loopholes, examining the extent, legitimacy and abuse of all corporate tax expenditures, exemptions, allowances and deductions, such as losses forward,...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There are two Ministers sitting there. The second Minister could answer.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: He is another Teachta Dála so he can answer the question. We have withdrawn some previous amendments on foot of commitments by the Government to look at these things and I note the Government has conceded to producing a report on the vacant homes tax. As far as I am concerned, this is part of an array, to use PwC's term, of things that we need to know more information about, for...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: My comments are on a similar note. The points were made in the earlier discussion as well. We have a similar amendment. What has happened in recent years in this country is really extraordinary. The approach that Fine Gael and its partners, the Labour Party and the Independent Alliance, have taken to the property sector is quite extraordinary given what had happened previously. We could...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I was on the finance committee when these REITs tax breaks were first introduced. I opposed them from the word go although I did not fully understand what they were, but I knew it was a tax break for people investing in property. I thought it was unbelievable at the time and said so. After the property bubble and the crash that we had gone through and the devastating consequences which it...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 25:In page 20, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “13. The Minister shall within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Dáil a report on the introduction of a Vacant Home Tax.”. I will withdraw the amendment on the basis of the commitment given.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I move amendment No. 26:In page 20, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “13. The Minister shall within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Dáil a report on how he will monitor on an ongoing basis the effectiveness and the value for money of the Help to Buy Scheme.”.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I agree with the Deputy. I believe the scheme should be abandoned, but at the very least we should have the cost-benefit analysis and the Minister should set out clearly how he is going to monitor the benefits and effectiveness of this. To the minds of a very broad spectrum of opinion, including expert opinion, this is something that has actually contributed to the spiralling house prices....

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We propose to replace the property tax with a landlord tax, which mainly involves wanting to deal with the inequities of the local property tax. In our alternative proposal of a landlord tax, we make a distinction between people who have one additional home and those who own multiple properties and are running a business. A simple distinction could be made in terms of thinking about a...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Very serious questions have to be asked about the value of this scheme. Property prices are out of control in my area, and are completely out of the reach of ordinary working people. It is not just that 6,000 people are waiting for 15 or 18 years on housing lists. Others who cannot even get onto housing lists because their incomes are slightly over the threshold do not have a prayer of...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I was a part of the discussion on this matter on Committee Stage. We have also tabled an amendment. Like Deputy Doherty, I welcome the fact that the Government has acceded to the suggestion that we need a report on a vacant home tax. I will not press our amendment, as the Minister has tabled one, but urgency is critical. I said something on Committee Stage that bears repeating, given that...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is a good precedent.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: While I have some concerns about any possible abuse of this, for the Minister not to consider it when it has been raised on a number of occasions and not try to tie down any possible unintended consequences but to deal with the substance of what Deputy Donnelly is seeking to do would be a gross inequity, given that in many cases vulture funds have been given a tax holiday on rental income or...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I echo Deputy Pearse Doherty's point about introducing detailed amendments at such a late stage when Deputies have not had an opportunity to properly study them. We do not have the explanations that are normally provided in the explanatory memorandum of a Bill, as initiated. While the Minister has an explanation available to him, Opposition Deputies must work out what this proposal, with...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On a point of order, we did not receive answers to some of our questions.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Seriously, it is-----