Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Let us not try to do made-up maths because it does not help or serve anybody. We are suggesting a 33% tax on the capital gains that are made when a company makes a purchase. REITs do not have one person who is the investor, they have multiple investors. Those investors, at the end of whatever year or quarter of the functioning of the company, get the dividends of the profits. The Minister of State is arguing that every payment of capital gains tax, as many normal people pay on purchases they have made, is somehow added to their income tax and that means they have paid 75% tax. That is just not accurate. The Minister of State should do better than that. As he is aware, people do not pay 40% tax on their income. They only pay 40% on such portions of their incomes above certain thresholds and so forth. The Minister of State has no idea. I imagine that most of the people who will be affected already have large amounts of income. The additional part of their income that comes from their share of the profits of a particular investment may well come down the line. It is a complete misnomer to try to add capital gains tax to income tax and suggest that people are paying 75% rated tax.

We should try to be clear on this. There is capital gains tax on companies and all kinds of transactions that happen in this State, including the sale of companies. Let us not try to mix oranges and apples to make a scary fruit salad. Let us try to be a bit clearer on it. The Minister of State and I may disagree on the question of whether companies should be paying all of what I regard as the normal costs associated with the conduct of business, be it VAT, other charges or capital gains tax, where a company is changing and exchanging properties before it comes to calculating its profit at the end of the year.I believe they should and the Minister of State may believe they should not and that instead it should be reflected in if they make a larger profit, because if they did not have to pay those normal costs and capital gains tax, we would will catch the profit later. This is a difference of opinion but please let us not be inaccurate in what we put out to the public.