Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Finance Bill, which puts into practice the measures announced in budget 2018, is another result of the effective coalition, recently matched up again, between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It is a missed opportunity, where tax cuts were championed ahead of investments in key services that could begin to address the crises in health, housing and education. Apart from the objections Sinn Féin had to prioritising tax cuts over much needed spending, I will highlight several measures that could have been introduced on Committee and Report Stages in the Dáil, which could have increased revenue for the State and would have seen a more equitable tax system in place. That USC and income tax cuts of €335 million are being made at a time when we have a housing emergency and a health service that is creaking at the seams is inexcusable. These are political decisions and many people are gobsmacked by them.

I note that Fianna Fáil did not support the amendment in the Dáil to ensure that farmland was excluded from the threefold increase in stamp duty up to 6%. Does the Minister of State have an update for me on this point, as promised to my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty? Fianna Fáil had an opportunity to support this amendment yet it abstained. It was amusing to see that as the Finance Bill passed through the various stages in the Dáil, Fianna Fáil Deputies could be seen scurrying down to get into the Chamber in time to abstain. If the current crisis has shown us anything, it is the true nature of the dysfunctionality in Government.

My colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, also tried to ensure that many of our pillar banks, which were bailed out by the taxpayer, pay their fair share of tax. The banks confirmed before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, that they have 20 years to go before they will pay any tax. The Minister says he waved a big stick at the banks over the tracker mortgage issue. That seems to have worked well for the scary Minister, Deputy Donohoe. He has the chance to show a bit of backbone in this Finance Bill by removing this loophole and taxing them. It is intolerable that this Finance Bill does not end the tax break for the banks. AIB is on course for a €1.5 billion profit this year. Bank of Ireland made €1 billion last year. That is more than €300 million on the basis of 12.5% tax. It makes no sense that we would waive that, especially when taken with the fact that we still refuse to collect the €13 billion owed to us by Apple. How much longer can the Government claim that time is needed to solve the housing and health crises?

Recently the term "single malt" has come into the public domain following an excellent report by Christian Aid but this information is not new and has been in the public domain for some time. It is infuriating when Ministers pretend to be amazed that these tax structures exist when they legislated for the increase in the cap of intangible assets to 100% and are fully aware of the outworkings of Ireland's double tax treaty network. Does the Minister of State agree that international reports of us providing a zero tax rate on billions of euro of multinational profits is bad for our international reputation? Why did the Government not accept the Sinn Féin amendments in the Dáil? As drafted, the Finance Bill will only apply this cap to assets onshored from 11 October 2017. That means the hundreds of billions transferred here in recent years, especially at its height in 2015, can be still be used by companies to potentially neutralise their corporation tax.

This is totally unacceptable and I welcome recent comments from Mr. Seamus Coffey. He recommends that the Government's new cap on the write-down of intangible assets apply to all assets as opposed to the Government's proposal, which grandfathers the new measure, meaning that the 80% cap will only apply to intangible assets acquired post budget. Due to the proposed cap not applying to all intangible assets, the State is missing out on a huge amount of corporate tax revenue that might not materialise in the future. Seamus Coffey further notes that if the cap applied to all claims, existing and new, then the additional corporation tax to be collected in 2018 could be up to €1 billion using the 2015 figure published by Revenue and estimates from that time used by the Department of Finance, as opposed to the €150 million the Government expects to raise. It is €1 billion compared with €150 million. We are paying for these onshore assets because they count towards our GNI, pushing up our EU contribution. We leave these companies to pay no tax through their intangible asset write-downs and the State is picking up the tab for increased contributions to the EU budget due to the tax-free earnings many of these companies have from intangible assets. The State makes payments of approximately €200 million per annum to the EU budget as a result of this gross income, which makes no contribution to Ireland's national budget. Over a ten-year period, this would result in payments of approximately €2 billion. We divert money from potential spending programmes to pay for the associated EU budget contributions this untaxed income requires each year, as well as an increase in the EU budget contributions counting towards the fiscal space.

The Government must amend its current proposal to include all intangible assets to safeguard our tax base and ensure the State is not unnecessarily picking up the tab for increased EU budget contributions related to tax-free multinational corporation activities.The Government needs to amend its current proposal to include all intangible assets, safeguard our tax base and ensure the State is not unnecessarily picking up the tab for increased EU budget contributions related to tax-free multinational corporation activities. The Seanad affords the opportunity to consider the Finance Bill again in light of all the debate in the Dáil over the past few weeks. It is vital that the elements of the Bill that seem to let some of the highest earning companies off scot free in terms of tax be examined again. When I meet people, they are incredulous over the fact that Bank of Ireland and AIB will wait 20 years until they pay any tax. It is not too late. Sinn Féin will be offering amendments again to this Bill. We will not support it in its current form. It is predictable and it is a missed golden opportunity to regain tax revenue for our people.