Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is not just a matter of ideological difference, it is about a practical difference. First and foremost, we should recognise that there are taxes on wealth already in our economy, and indeed Sinn Féin and its sister party, People Before Profit, regularly vote against the local property tax at local authority level. That is important, for the record, if we are going to be making assumptions, as such.

I am opposed to a wealth tax in the manner Senator Gavan described. I am also opposed to the report because we do not need the report. We saw what happened when France tried to do this. It just leads to a flight of capital. This is something that absolutely - particularly from the political ideology of the left - makes sense on paper but it does not make sense in practice. They will bring in this tax and yet all it will do is create a flight of capital, and they will actually end up taking less tax in. That is not necessarily what we are trying to achieve. While I appreciate the ideological emphasis by Senator Gavan, this is not something to be lost on ideology. It is to be lost on practicality.