Results 14,461-14,480 of 32,569 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As part of the preparations for Budget 2019, it was estimated that the Exchequer yield from non-indexation of the income tax system would be in the region of €0.6 billion on a full year basis. In light of the publication of the Revenue Commissioners Post-Budget 2019 Income Tax Ready Reckoner this estimate has not changed materially. The projected yield from non-indexation for...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Central Bank of Ireland Staff (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 183 and 184 together. The appointment of the Governor of the Central Bank is provided for under section 19 (1) of the Central Bank Act 1942 (as amended). The Government recommended the appointment of Mr. Makhlouf as Governor of the Central Bank to the President following a comprehensive, open, and international process. The process included a public call for...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Government Expenditure (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Estimates of certain demographic pressures in the areas of Health, Social Protection and Education are set out in Expenditure Report 2019 as pre-committed elements of the current expenditure baseline for the period to 2021. These are primary areas of current expenditure which are particularly impacted by demographic changes. For 2020 and 2021, an allocation of €0.45 billion is set...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Properties (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Neither my Department nor the Office of Public Works have acquired any lands by way of CPO in the past three years.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I would advise the Deputy that I cannot comment on the details of the case covered by the question as the particular public service pension scheme involved has not been specified. However, I would note in that regard that while I have administrative responsibility for the Civil Service Pension Schemes, I exercise a central policy/authorisation role in relation to all other public service...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Chairman for the invitation to engage with the committee on the topic of the local property tax, LPT, which was the subject of a recent review. I referred the report to the committee for its consideration in light of the its findings in respect of the impact of residential property price movements on LPT liabilities under a number of scenarios. As the committee is aware, I have...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: My key point in my consideration of this issue is that when I looked at the different options I would have considered, the committee independently reached the same view on them, namely, that we either maintain a national rate or that we allow local authorities to deliver the same yield by county but that they have the ability to vary the rate. It became obvious to me that while it was...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct. My objective would be to maintain it on a "no policy change" basis until we get to the point at which legislation will be needed to renew this tax in its entirety.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It will be in 2021.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: No. To deal with the first part of the Deputy's question, as we bring existing households into the LPT net, which we will need to do, the revenue these properties will contribute initially will be a relatively small part of the new LPT yield. In respect of why there is such a variation, even in scenario 2 as the Deputy has identified, there are two reasons. The first is that there has been...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It is because of the price variation within each local authority area.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am happy to supply the model underlying the figures to the committee.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes, it is because of how uneven the price development is. We have based all our calculations on the figures we collected from the Revenue Commissioners. This is the yield those data deliver. As the discussion develops, I can ask my officials to come in and comment on the numbers. What I have set out is what our model of property prices across the country has yielded.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Of course.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I take a different view. A tax code should have the ability to tax assets appropriately. The LPT has got the balance right between having a broad definition of what wealth is and being able to tax it in a progressive way. The more valuable one's home, the higher one's payment. I would have hoped to see that principle of progressivity supported by the Deputy. Ireland is one of the few...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not agree that my position on this introduces a tension, but I accept that it introduces a difficulty in terms of how we go about the revaluation process. It is a difficulty we must overcome because ensuring that the first revaluation of the LPT is successful offers the opportunity for the tax to make more of a contribution to the delivery of public services into the future. If that...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The reason it is not possible to extend the LPT now to new homes that are being built, in the absence of a revaluation for all, is that we would have to tax properties that have just been built on the basis of the 2013 valuation. Then we would be in the situation of taxing one property that existed in 2013 on that valuation and of finding a way to infer the taxable value of a new property to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I meant this "we" over here, for the purpose of clarification. I was not extending it any further. Perhaps this illustrates the difficulty.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: In response to the Deputy's points about my not making decisions, for those he has pointed to that I have not made, I would point to the ones I have made, principally the value added tax, VAT, in the hospitality and services sector, the change in the betting levy and the stamp duty on commercial property. He is correct to say that there are some changes I have not made but there are others...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Local Property Tax Review: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not see that happening in the short or medium term.