Results 17,581-17,600 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As regards a vacant property tax, an independent report on this topic commissioned by my Department was laid before Dáil Éireann on 18 September 2018, in accordance with the provisions of section 86 of the Finance Act of last year. The independent Indecon consultants report on the taxation of vacant residential property presents a detailed evidence-based assessment of vacancy rates...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy may be aware that during my response to amendment No. 161, tabled by Deputy Boyd Barrett, I advised that my officials would undertake to report next year on the activities of such structures in the Irish property market. I agreed on Committee Stage of the Finance Bill last year to conduct a report on the impact that REITs and IREFs are having on the residential property market....

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: It is my intention to find out if conclusions can be drawn, based on fact, about whether the activity of these funds is having an effect on different forms of property, particularly properties within our cities. This work is on-going and is a matter I want to look at personally and to understand any effect it may be having. One of the issues I have been looking at is that a large number of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: There is a debate under way as to whether I can do that or not.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: There is an active debate as to whether that is actually doable.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I did not hear that. I heard different views as to what can be done. It is wisest for me to say at this point that I am acutely aware of differing issues that can contribute to trends in our property market that might be different to the last property cycle we went through. I am aware of the scale of operation that is under way from some of these funds. I believe the scale of operation is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Plastic waste and recycling is a waste management issue and is overseen by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. Ireland has supported the ambition of the recent EU proposal on the reduction of the impact of plastic on the environment. The Council of the European Union recently agreed a text to bring to negotiations with the European Commission and the European...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: For now, the short answer to that question is "Yes." The reason is exactly the same as the one I gave Deputy Michael McGrath last year. Every 1% reduction to the rate of life assurance exit tax will cost approximately €4.7 million. Therefore, reducing the latter to align it with DIRT rates from 2019 would result in a cost to the Exchequer of €28 million in the coming year...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am pleased to tell the Deputy that my Department is in the final phases of preparing a report on this very issue for me. This is in response to the number of times this issue has been raised, particularly by Deputy Michael McGrath. We hope to be in a position to publish the report in a few weeks. It does not take away from the cost issues I have raised, but section 3 of the report in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. I understand that this is an important source of investment and credit for SMEs and I think it is likely to grow in the near future. In my budget day speech I said that I am willing to look at how we can tax this sector and how this could be done in a way that is effective and deals with issues that Michael Deputy McGrath and representatives of the sector have raised. I...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Central Bank has already undertaken the work of looking at how the sector can be regulated and it will report back to me with its recommendations. I have an ambition to do this in advance of next year's finance Bill. It is a sector that is not regulated at the moment so we need to look at how it can be regulated in the first place but I am interested in this because I can see the role...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct but the purpose of this is to facilitate tax compliance. The sector is eager to see this withholding tax regime change and therefore I hope that as the sector begins to get a sense of how we believe it can be better regulated that the sector's views on withholding tax will colour its enthusiasm for participating in how the sector can be regulated.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: They are. I advise the Deputy that Revenue has published a considerable amount of information and detailed guidance about the standard fund threshold regime. Therefore, there is no requirement for an additional report as has been suggested and the policy position on the matter is well settled. The State offers extremely broad pension relief to encourage individuals to save to ensure they...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: That is correct. We are saying that the standard fund threshold is applied to the fund itself rather than the income so that is why there is only one of them. That is the reason we cannot divide it but I have been informed that it could lead to a situation where if we did divide them, people would be better off after the separation or divorce than when they were married.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: No it does not but the standard fund threshold and the way it is implemented has been carefully put in place to deal with the very large benefits that accrue to a number of people as a result of the interaction between our tax system and the amount of money that people put away for the future. There is only one of them and it is applied to the fund rather than the income. If we came to a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to comment on a related policy area and signal my intention to bring forward a minor technical amendment on Report Stage to correct a ministerial reference in the Forestry Act 1988. The proposed amendment is technical in nature and is intended to clarify that pension payments to be made to former civil servants under that Act are to be made by the Minister for Finance rather than the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I acknowledge that many options were set out in the report of the working group on the tax and fiscal treatment of rental accommodation providers. Deputy McGrath and his party called for these options to be implemented as part of the budget. As the Deputy is aware, for reasons primarily relating to cost I was not in a position to put in place the two additional measures outlined. I...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: By virtue of some of the changes I have made in the past two budgets, it is evident that I acknowledge how tax policy has a role to play in the rental sector. However, I need to be careful not to put in place measures that absorb large amounts of resources. For example, the proposal to grant tax relief to any long-term leases within the State has the potential, in the most extreme scenario,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will respond in the same spirit. We had a debate about this. In that debate, I outlined to the Deputy how progressive I believe our income transfers already are. The committee will be aware that in the coming period, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will publish a social impact assessment of budget 2019. I believe that and other measures which were announced on...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Nov 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. I spoke on this in a related section earlier today. I do not propose to accept the amendment mainly because my Department and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection published a report on this a number of months ago. We have already done it. I know there are differing views on the conclusions that we reached and the data in them but such a report was...