Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to respond to the point made by the Minister that PAYE is paid on employment income. I agree but I still think that is quite different from somebody who makes a loss on a rental property. At least with employment every euro one gets is extra and there is no question of losing money.

As I pointed out, what is being done in this provision is different from the existing code for income tax that rightly allows people to write off costs such as mortgage interest and similar items. This provision imposes a tax on a loss, which is extraordinary and is completely different from employment income. I ask the Minister to revisit the idea that this legislation could be changed to reflect rental profit.

I understand the points made by Senator Norris and others about charging people taxes on the interest they have made on savings or investments or when, for example, an elderly couple has their retirement income in a bank account and they are paying tax on the interest they earn from that. At least that is a tax on interest. The rental income provision is extraordinary because it is based on a loss. As I pointed out earlier, there are multinational companies in this county which make billions and yet write off all kinds of things to avoid paying tax. How could it possibly be right that somebody who has only one property and is losing money on it would have to pay PRSI on a loss? I genuinely believe that is different and I ask the Minister to revisit the provision between now and Report Stage.