Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am saying the debate will move better if we do not have to go back and forth on those matters. I do not believe any of us is interested in talking about what Sinn Féin and Fine Gael like. Let us focus on the proposals at hand.

If I was a shareholder in a company in which the CEO was making decisions on where to locate the company based on his or her salary and income tax, I would question the value of that company. It is extraordinarily poor practice for a CEO or senior executive to decide to move the company to the Netherlands, Ireland or Lithuania based a cushier cash deal for the CEO and his or her top five or six executives. If that is the decision making, there are big questions. It is shaky ground. On Irish people who are returning, one must question the patriotism of people earning €3 million who will not locate or contribute to the country to which they are supposed to be so attached unless they get a hefty tax relief. They pay less tax than somebody on €40,000 for the section of their income between €75,000 and €1 million. It is an important issue and there are key questions.

With regard to the level of the tax, the Minister of State should not try to suggest that the Government is in wonderful solidarity with those on €40,000 when the tax relief we are discussing relates to income between €75,000 and €1 million. The public must be clear that it is €75,000 to €1 million. We probably should be able to lower the threshold if there was a higher rate of tax, but that is not what this is about. There are later amendments which refer to that.

There will be a point of review on this. The extraordinary hollowing out of our income tax base that is going to the very wealthy in Ireland is galling. It is not a gesture of solidarity with those on €40,000 because it is the people on €40,000 who are paying 40% on all of their income above the threshold who are paying for this. It is not a zero-sum game; it is tax expenditure. People on €40,000, €50,000 and €60,000 are paying for those on €1 million under this provision. The case for it is poorly made. Perhaps there will be something further in the future as I am sure we will discuss it again later.