Results 17,481-17,500 of 35,756 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I am not going to have this argument all day and there are other people who want to speak but I am not asking for a report to compare our tax system with others. We can all get those from the website of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, or other websites such as those of the international taxation institutes. I am asking for evidence to support the theory...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: It is true.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: That is not true. During the McCreevy era, he was recording surpluses which means the economy was growing at a faster rate than expenditure. What the Minister has done today is exactly from McCreevy's script. He has talked about stamp duty increases on the one hand to fund personal tax decreases on the other. Stamp duty increases and some of his other tax-raising measures, while welcome,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister and members will probably will be aware that amendment No. 4 deals exactly with topic we have been discussing for the last 30 minutes or so, namely, the merger of USC and PRSI. I am not going to discuss that now because we have not got to that section but I want to go back to close off on another matter. The Minister was going to provide figures and data. I have looked at the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I agree with that. The point I am making-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I am not having this kind of argument just for the sake of having an argument about language. My view is that there has been a deliberate classification of "middle income" in this State which bears no relationship with the reality of the levels at which incomes are actually earned. For example, the Minister gave a figure of €30,000 but more than 50% of people have an income of less...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 2:In page 8, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following:“3. The Minister shall, within one month of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the impact on income equality of the changes in income tax and USC made in this Act.”. I want to withdraw amendment No. 2. I will reserve the right to reintroduce it on...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 3:In page 8, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following:“3. The Minister shall within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann an analysis of individual tax payers in the State, in light of the current reporting deficit whereby the breakdown of the number of taxpayers and their associated income are provided in the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: It stands that we are going to discuss it a wee bit further. I think this is crucial. Unless we can get sight of this type of data, it will be very difficult to develop policy and costings for policy. There are a lot of guesstimates at work. I know if the Minister were to come forward with a proposal on tax tapering, for example, Revenue would give him its best guesstimate on the costs...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that. I have been dealing with this issue for a couple of years with Department of Finance officials in the context of obtaining costings and so on. I want to extend my appreciation to them in that regard, and also to the Revenue officials in terms of their assistance in trying to drill down into this data. There must be a way of collecting this data. I heard what the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 4:In page 8, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following: “3. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on options available regarding the merger of USC and PRSI.". This amendment calls for a report on the options available regarding the merger of USC and PRSI to be laid before...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: That is fair. A Finance Bill is not the appropriate place for these types of measures. What I am seeking from the Minister is a commitment that as in the case of the local property tax report, this report will not be published on budget day and an announcement made that this tax is to be retained. This is too important a measure to be dealt with in that way. I can understand that it is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I will withdraw the amendment on that basis. When does the Minister expect to publish the terms of reference for the work of the group?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Is it the Minister's intention that the entire proceeds from the USC - this figure is expected to reach approximately €5 billion by 2020 - will be transferred into the social insurance fund?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Can I take it that the terms of reference will not stipulate that this process should involve the complete merger of the USC? Is it the case that all possible options, including partial merger and complete merger, will be considered? My concern is that this will not add up unless the services that are currently being provided through general taxation are funded from the social insurance...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 5:In page 9, to delete lines 14 and 15 and substitute the following:“(a) In paragraph (a), by substituting “€1,400” for “€950”, and (b) In paragraph (b), by substituting “€1,400” for “€950”.”. The progress in terms of equalising the self-employed tax credit with the PAYE...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister may have already clarified this but is he committed, as was his predecessor, to full equalisation of the credit with PAYE workers?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Does he have a view as to when we can expect there to be full equalisation?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: I intend to table an amendment to section 6 on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2017)

Pearse Doherty: Will the Minister clarify the status of the mortgage interest relief for private dwelling houses, PDHs, and buy-to-lets? Will it apply to both?