Results 17,301-17,320 of 35,756 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: My amendment has been ruled out of order. While the Chairman signs the ruling, he gets a direction to do so. I raise this issue in the debate on every Finance Bill and I have dealt with seven. It is not clear how the rules are applied. I hope the Chairman will take up this issue at a later stage. My amendment on intangible assets to change the date to an earlier one has been ruled out of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister's point is that it is not possible to differentiate between development land and non-development land, which was the focus of my amendment. The capital gains tax, CGT, exemption would apply if an owner held on to the land for seven years, but under this Bill he or she will be able to dispose of it after four years and still avail of the exemption. I think that reduction in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I am satisfied. I would like it to have applied to development land only but I understand that is not possible. I have no problem with the reduction in the timeframe from seven years to four years in respect of the disposal of land. However, I do have a problem with this being applicable to buildings also. A case in point is the hotel which had an uplift of €500 million during the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The amendment references land and buildings. I can understand the Minister's explanation in regard to land but why can subsection (2A) not be rewritten to read "(2A) Where a person disposes of land to which this section applies"?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Would the Minister be willing to share that advice with the committee?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I find that very hard to understand. I am not saying that I do not believe the Minister has received that advice. The tax code provides for taxation measures specifically to deal with land as opposed to buildings, for example, the vacant site levy. I cannot understand, therefore, why the Minister cannot introduce an exemption from CGT for certain properties, for example, land as opposed to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: My understanding of the advice is that it is not possible to differentiate between different types of land. My amendment originally sought the exemption in respect of development land only. I accept the advice that it is not possible to differentiate between different types of land, but I did not hear in that advice any reference to it not being possible to differentiate between land and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Four per cent compared with 33% is-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Capital gains tax.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I do not want to drag this out. I reiterate the point that stamp duty is paid by the purchaser and capital gains tax is paid by the seller. Two different parties will pay the taxes. Even if they were the same, 4% compared with 33% is a big difference. Between now and Report Stage, would the Minister be willing to examine whether there is any possibility that buildings would not be part of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I will. Maybe we should not amend the seven year element at all. Maybe we should introduce a separate section which allows for a redefinition of land specifically, the same way we did with Irish real estate funds, IREFs. We should define land in terms of development land and allow them to pay no CGT. There must be a way because there are massive windfalls coming down here for those will...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The person loses a portion of the exemption.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I support the concept of a wealth tax, as the Minister of State knows. I drafted legislation to provide for same but I do not support the proposal that is here. I believe the rate is too high and the tax is too broad. That being said, the principle is still there and I support that principle. The Minister of State's response was not surprising because it is very clear that this Government...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Yes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I have raised this before so I will not dwell on it. The Government is relying on an increase of €60 million in taxation with this measure. Is that correct?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Government is relying on this increase in excise duty bringing in €60 million. Is that right?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Revenue tells us that an increase of 50 cent on a packet of cigarettes and similar increases on rolled tobacco, cigars and other smoking tobacco could lose €40 million or could bring in as much as €64 million. A range applies in this case. The Minister of State has decided again to go with the upper end of the range. I have looked at figures from 2007. I know there was a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: How much did they finish below forecast?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Obviously, time will tell in respect of the outturn. It is also a question for Revenue. Revenue has given us a range of minus €40 million to plus €64 million, which is a range of over €100 million. We see the elasticity year-on-year and therefore Revenue needs to tighten up on the range. We do an alternative budget. We argue that nothing will come. We take a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: No I am referring to the €16 million that the Government argued would bring in last year.