Seanad debates

Friday, 11 December 2020

Finance Bill 2020: Committee Stage

 

10:00 am

Photo of Alice-Mary HigginsAlice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move recommendation No. 4:

4.In page 11, after line 34, to insert the following: “11.The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the introduction of a new threshold for High Wealth Individuals defined as persons in possession of net assets of the value of €10 million and above.”.

This recommendation asks that the Minister would, within three months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the introduction of a new threshold for high wealth individuals, defined as persons in possession of net assets to the value of €10 million and above.

I am not attempting, as may perhaps have been hinted, to reach backwards in taxing in the past but we need to be clear that there have been those who have become much more wealthy this year. It is outside the scope of this Bill to retrospectively tax them but it is a marker that we need to review, which is why I am encouraging the Minister to prepare a report in order that we might look in our next budget at a new tax threshold for high wealth individuals. Let us be in proportion. Globally, the very wealthiest have increased wealth of €10.2 trillion during the Covid-19 crisis. For billionaires globally, there has been a 27.5% increase in their wealth during the pandemic. Even at a time when many have struggled and when all involved in every kind of business, together with employees, and all of those different groups upon which we have debated at length, it is important to note that billionaires and indeed millionaires in many cases have become much more wealthy. This is not an abstract issue talking about the 27.5% increase globally because in Ireland, the very wealthiest have increased their wealth by 7.3%. Nobody is getting increases of that level of income when one talks about SMEs or PAYE employees but for the very wealthy in Ireland, the 300 individuals who have wealth of €93.7 billion between them, there has been a 7.3% increase in their wealth. It is very reasonable to ask those who have become extremely wealthy, at a time when every other part of society and of our economy has been strained and pressed to the pin of their collar, to pay little bit more. This would give the Minister of State the option of looking at what might be the case to introduce a threshold for high wealth individuals.

We are not talking about those people on €100,000 a year, as was discussed on a previous amendment, but are talking about those with net assets of €10 million or more. They can contribute more. It is worth bearing in mind that in this crisis that has strained and pressed all of us, not only have the very wealthiest become much more wealthy, as I have said to the tune of billions and trillions of euro, but these people are also endangering us more in respect of the next crisis. That is because the next crisis is climate change and a report from Oxfam this week pointed out that while those on lower incomes have decreased their emissions by 20% to 13%, the top 5% of the wealthy have increased their emissions by 3%, even at a time of significant climate crisis. The top 1% of persons, that is again the super-wealthy that we are talking about - for example, the 300 individuals in Ireland but their equivalent globally - have increased their carbon emissions by 5%.

We have, then, the very wealthiest creating greater danger and jeopardy for us in the future by way of another crisis, which will be a significant crisis and will take a toll on our collective economy, and we are not asking that they increase what they contribute. It is very reasonable that we would and I urge the Minister of State to do a report to look at this issue. This recommendation does not require that to be done for this budget. I urge everybody to bear in mind what we know, and this is not from left-wing economists but from mainstream economics, from the research of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, the World Bank, and others. There is no trickle-down from billionaires. We know, and I have quoted this in previous Finance Bills, that research by the IMF over 30 years in more than 100 countries found that when one increase the income of the bottom 10%, the national GDP and the economy grows. When one increases the income of those in the top 10%, it can actually be bad for the economy. This is a chance to address and redress this issue. We do not want to emerge from this crisis with an even more skewed and imbalanced economic system, as it does not serve any of us.

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