David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have had it in every year. Sometimes the civil servants might not give the Minister full information. We have proposed a wealth tax every year for the past five years.However, because the Government and the Department are unable to calculate how much would be raised from a wealth tax, we took the prudent step of saying we could not speculate about how much money would be raised. We could not say with any credibility that X amount would be raised which could be used for day to day spending. We said this because the Government was unable to cost the measure. The Minister and the media rightly state that when one brings forward budget proposals, they should be costed. For that reason, this was a separate measure in our proposed budget and any money raised would be ring-fenced for job creation measures and investment of the type mentioned by the Minister.

The recommendation proposes:

The Minister shall, within nine months from the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on options available for the introduction of a comprehensive asset tax otherwise known as a wealth tax, the report shall include options for the collation of data necessary for the assessment of such a tax, definitions of categories of wealth to be included in such a tax, proposals for the assessment and collection of the proposed tax and estimates of potential revenue raised at various rates of taxation.

The Minister has spoken in this House on several occasions about broadening the tax base and introduced new taxes, including the local property tax and water charges. He may not see these as taxes, but some people certainly do, in particular the local property tax. In general, therefore, the Government does not seem to have a difficulty with introducing new taxes, but there is a reluctance to even consider the possibility of introducing a wealth tax. There is a reluctance to consider what it would look like or how money would be raised from it. The Minister has indicated several times how much he believes such a tax would generate and I am aware he has views on its sustainability. Numerous reports have been produced in this context. I produced a report yesterday for the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on low pay and the living wage and I am aware of and familiar with the data underpinning that report. I am sure the Minister is also aware of the data produced by EUROSTAT, the OECD and the CSO, as well as the figures from all of the reputable data gathering agencies in the State, elsewhere in Europe and globally. The data show that market and income inequality is very high in the State. When we include social transfers, the position is better, but income inequality is certainly a problem. The top 20% of income earners own 73% of the State's wealth, while the bottom 20% own 0.2%. This is shocking by any standard and demonstrates the real divide in the country. The figures also show that the combined wealth of the top 5% is almost double that of middle income earners in their entirety. Revenue data show that the top 1% of income earners had an average annual income of €373,300, whereas the bottom 90% earned approximately €27,000 annually. I am not speaking in ideological terms of left or right politics or rich versus poor, but these issues are now being examined globally. They were on the agenda for the World Economic Forum which looked at the concentration of wealth in the hands of a small number of people. We are not immune to this.

As a matter of fairness and sustainability, we need to look at the possibility of introducing a wealth tax. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Government is so opposed to the principle of a wealth tax. Despite a political party including the possible introduction of a wealth tax in its manifesto and alternative budget every year, the Government, its agencies and the Department oppose such a tax to the extent that they have not even seen fit to cost the proposal. After five years in government and after all the nonsense Fine Gael has thrown at Sinn Féin for proposing the introduction of a wealth tax, I find it incredible that the Minister and the Department have not had the manners to cost the measure. We are entitled to the information and the State should be obliged to provide it for the political system in order that we can work out the proposals and policies we propose should be put in place. I hope the Minister recognises that we include it in our alternative budget every year which we try to have costed. We can disagree on these issues, but we cannot do so on a wealth tax if the Minister will not provide the information. No political party could undertake the work on its own and it would not be credible. It needs to be done by the Department. As the recommendation is clear on what we are calling for, I will repeat it. It reads:

The Minister shall, within nine months from the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on options available for the introduction of a comprehensive asset tax otherwise known as a wealth tax, the report shall include options for the collation of data necessary for the assessment of such a tax, definitions of categories of wealth to be included in such a tax, proposals for the assessment and collection of the proposed tax and estimates of potential revenue raised at various rates of taxation.

Is that too much to ask for? The Minister tells us each year that one of the reasons we cannot have such a tax relates to the assessment and collation of data. Let us, therefore, try to find them. If we had definitions of categories of wealth to be included, we could make the arguments for their inclusion.

On the proposals for the collection of such a tax, the Government has no difficulty with the methods for the collection of fines, water charges and local property tax, but it seems to have a difficulty with the possible introduction of a wealth tax. Why is not possible for the Department to even produce a report that would put the options on the table in order that we could have a reasonable and constructive debate on the issue? This recommendation is important. It is wrong that the Government has not done this up to now and that it has not been able to cost our proposal. We have work on it, but our work has just been dismissed as Sinn Féin's proposal. What we are trying to achieve is to ensure we at least would have the data, methods and a model that had been examined by the Department. That seems to be a reasonable request on the part of Sinn Féin.