Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that the Minister of State has taken an interest in this issue in the past, that he continues to take an interest in it and that the threshold has been reduced to €20 million. I am of the view, however, that a threshold of €10 million would be better. There are two issues here. One is the question of the gathering of the information and the other, which is outside my prerogative as a member of the Opposition, relates to what we do with that information. I believe that we need to consider the introduction of an additional tax or some form of levy on high wealth individuals, be the level of such wealth categorised, as I suggest, at €10 million-plus or €20 million-plus, which I do acknowledge is an improvement on the €50 million-plus that applied previously. I think this would be appropriate. It is a way of reflecting and allowing people to make a contribution. I do not accept that, for example, a 1% tax on such wealth will mean that people will automatically take their children out of schools, sell their homes and move lock, stock and barrel out of the country. We know that we have an issue with tax exiles but that is a separate issue. We are talking about high wealth individuals and appropriate contribution.

The Minister of State indicated that he took an interest in this issue in the past in terms of the Committee of Public Accounts and the report it produced, which resulted in the threshold being reduced from €50 million to €20 million - not €10 million as I would like. It is important that we do something with the report from last year. Much as I would welcome a new report, I would prefer to see something done with the previous report. As I said earlier, these are not issues that I can seek to amend because that would require financial amendments. Given the Minister of State has taken an interest in this matter it would be good if he indicated that he is looking to see what aspects of Government policies in the context of the next budget cycle might be informed by the information in that report.