Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept that it is a lot of money in circumstances where people have very little. However, there are still those who can afford to pay it. We are confident that in the context of the deferral system which is being tweaked in the legislation before the House, we are doing our best to assist those of very low means or whose homes are in negative equity.

It is worth stating the Bill needs to be passed in order to give Revenue full powers to proceed with the next stage of the implementation process relating to the tax and also to allow it to give guidance. That guidance will be crucial for all homeowners in assisting them in understanding the valuations which have been arrived at. Where a person honestly values his or her house on foot of guidance from Revenue, there will be no further questioning of that value. If honest mistakes are made, people will not be criminalised. We are going to work to ensure the assessments which will be sent by Revenue in the coming weeks will reflect people's perspectives on value. However, there is a substantial degree of self-assessment involved. If people choose to challenge the system, they are entitled to do so in the context of the legislation. They must be able to show the basis for their valuation of their properties. If a person whose home is in negative equity or someone of very low means chose, for example, to defer payment for 20 years on the trot, the total liability at that point would be less than 5% of the value of the house in circumstances where it was to be sold.

I accept that people have genuine concerns about this matter. I have been advising elderly constituents and they should get their loved ones to pay the tax on their behalf at some point in the future. I accept this is a real issue for people, but it must be remembered that what we are talking about is such a small percentage of the total value of the property. The substance of the amendment relates to exempting people whose homes are in negative equity. We are of the view that the deferral provisions we have included are fair and balanced and that they will allow us to raise the tax, while also recognising the very difficult position in which those whose homes are in negative equity find themselves. We have gone as far as we can in terms of deferral.