Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We must consider what happened in France when it introduced the 75% tax on income. Liquid assets were moved across the border into Belgium within hours. That is what Sinn Féin would do. It would drive the remaining assets in the country out of it immediately. That would be the unintended consequence of its action. It talks about a tax on farm land. I do not know if that would go down well in rural Ireland. Its proposed new section refers to assets over ¤1 million. Regardless of how bad our circumstances are now, Sinn Féin would make them a lot worse. It is a crazy idea in view of the position we are in now. If we put a tax on liquid assets in this country they will disappear. Sinn Féin is talking about taxing illiquid assets, which it says would bring in ¤500 million in a full year. As we said yesterday, if the choice is between ¤500 million from this measure or an increase which would bring in ¤15.7 billion in income tax, that is an easy choice.