Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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233. To ask the Minister for Finance the partial and full-year cost to the Exchequer of abolishing the local property tax. [31253/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the estimated potential cost to the Exchequer of abolishing Local Property Tax would be in the region of €500m per annum. However, it should be borne in mind that under the terms of the Stability and Growth Pact, once Ireland is out of the corrective arm and until it has reached its objective of a balanced budget in structural terms, we may not introduce discretionary revenue reductions unless they are matched by other revenue increases or expenditure reductions. This means that Government must consider carefully any tax changes as any reductions will have to be offset elsewhere.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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234. To ask the Minister for Finance the partial and full-year cost to the Exchequer of reducing windfall tax from 80% to 60%, 50% and 40%, respectively, for development land disposals. [31254/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The windfall tax rate of 80% applies to the portion of the profit or gain on a disposal of land which is attributable to a "relevant planning decision" a rezoning, where both the rezoning and the disposal of land giving rise to the windfall happen after 30 October 2009; or a "material contravention" decision by a Local Authority, where both the decision and the disposal happen after 4 February 2010. I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that on the basis of the Form 11 Income Tax returns and Corporation Tax returns for 2010-2012 (the latter being the latest tax year for which the necessary information is available), there is no record of any such profits or gains having been returned. The windfall gains provisions were introduced primarily to discourage overheating of the property market by way of speculative transactions involving rezoned land rather than as a revenue raising measure. There is no reliable basis for estimating the impact on revenues to the Exchequer from reducing the 80% rate to 60%, 50% and 40% respectively for development land disposals.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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235. To ask the Minister for Finance the partial and full-year cost to the Exchequer of raising the VAT registration threshold for small medium enterprises with low turnover from €70,000 to €100,000, €150,000, €175,000, €200,000 and €250,000, respectively. [31255/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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In the time available, having regard to the volume of questions seeking costings on individual measures, Revenue are not in a position to provide the information sought. However, I will arrange for the information to be supplied directly to the Deputy.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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237. To ask the Minister for Finance the partial and full-year cost to the Exchequer of extending the disabled drivers and disabled passengers tax concession scheme to those who would otherwise qualify but are disqualified because they do not buy their cars from authorised dealers. [31257/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that it is not possible to estimate the cost to the exchequer of removing the requirement that a vehicle must be purchased from an authorised person to benefit from a repayment of VRT and VAT. However, all applicants are advised of the requirement, which is not intended to exclude qualifying persons from benefiting from the schemes, and therefore the cost of its removal would be negligible if not zero. The restriction does not apply when a qualifying person imports and applies for remission of VRT on registration of an adapted vehicle. I have asked my officials to examine the Regulations with a view to streamlining and modernising the scheme and addressing any anomalies. I expect that this examination to be concluded shortly.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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239. To ask the Minister for Finance the partial and full-year cost to the Exchequer of allowing entrepreneurs-small to medium enterprise start-ups a three-year capital gains tax window for selling on their ideas or businesses. [31259/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Section 45 of Finance (No 2) Act of 2013 provides for a capital gains tax relief for entrepreneurs who reinvest the proceeds from the disposal of assets made on or after 1 January 2010 in certain chargeable business assets. Commencement of the relief is subject to EU state-aid approval. Subject to EU approval, the relief will apply from 1 January 2014 to individual entrepreneurs:

- Who have made disposals of assets since 1 January 2010 on which they have paid capital gains tax;

- Who invest at least €10,000, in the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2018, in acquiring chargeable business assets that will be used in a new business and

- Who subsequently (after a minimum period of 3 years) dispose of those chargeable business assets at a gain giving rise to a capital gains tax liability.

The relief will be given on the tax due on any chargeable gain arising on the subsequent disposal of the chargeable assets after a minimum period of 3 years and will amount to the lower of:

- the full amount of capital gains tax paid on the initial disposal made since 1 January 2010 or

- 50% of the CGT payable on the disposal of the new chargeable business assets.

If an entrepreneur reinvests the proceeds of that subsequent disposal in a further new business, the relief can also apply on a subsequent disposal of the chargeable business assets of that further new business. Where less than the full proceeds of a disposal on which capital gains tax has been paid are reinvested, only that proportion of the capital gains tax relative to the amount reinvested will qualify for relief. The relief will be given in the form of a tax credit equal to the lower of the capital gains tax paid on the disposal of assets made on or after 1 January 2010 or 50% of the capital gains tax on any gain from the future disposal of the chargeable business assets. The relief is estimated to have a full year cost of €20 million by 2018.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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241. To ask the Minister for Finance the cost of maintaining the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector; and his plans to continue with this measure. [31261/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The 9% reduced VAT rate for tourism related services was introduced in July 2011 as part of the Government Jobs Initiative. The measure was designed to boost tourism and create additional jobs in that sector. In Budget 2014 I announced that the 9% VAT rate would be retained indefinitely at a cost of €290 million in 2014 and €350 million in a full year.  The Budget change means that the 9% rate is not due to expire, but it is subject to change in the normal course of the budgetary and Finance Bill process, as with all taxes.  In this context, there would be no additional cost of maintaining the 9% VAT rate in 2015 and subsequent years.