Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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7. To ask the Minister for Finance the current estimated tax expenditure costs of tax reliefs for the property and construction industry, and any further such expenditure resulting from budget 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40177/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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All reliefs, including property- and construction-related reliefs, are a cost to the Exchequer and I have previously set out this Government's tax policy basis in relation to any future tax expenditures. It is our intention to:

- Support economic growth by ensuring that any increase in taxation be effected in the first instance by base broadening including through the elimination or curtailment of overly-generous, poorly targeted or otherwise unaffordable tax reliefs;

- Use tax reliefs only in limited circumstances where there are demonstrable market failures and where a tax-based incentive is more efficient than a direct expenditure intervention;

- Time-limit all tax expenditures and subject those with higher costs to ex-ante evaluation; and

- Conduct a regular programme of reviews of tax reliefs, engaging in public consultation as appropriate, and publish the results.  

With reference to this last point I might draw the Deputy's attention to my Department's October 2015 "Report on Tax Expenditures", which was published on its website on Budget day, and which includes comprehensive tables setting out the fiscal impact of the range of tax expenditures in effect, or still having an effect, at the time. It also incorporates the outcomes of eight reviews, five in full and three in summary, completed by or on behalf of my Department in the previous twelve months. The Report includes data on both property and construction industry reliefs and addresses the whole issue much more comprehensively than I can do in the limited time available to me here: the Deputy will appreciate that an oral Parliamentary Question is perhaps not the best way of dealing with a question where the response is essentially tabular information.

As regards any additional expenditure resulting from the recent Budget I would mention the Home Renovation Incentive which will now run until 31 December 2016.

Since the introduction of the incentive, works on 28,911 properties have been notified to Revenue's HRI online system (as of 22 October 2015).  This represents more than €624 million worth of works involving some 6,341 contractors.  The potential total cost to the Exchequer in respect of these properties is approximately €42.5 m. As a claim for the HRI credit can only be made in the year after works have been paid for, there was no cost to the Exchequer in 2014 (works paid for in the period from 25 October 2013 to 31 December 2013 were deemed to have been paid for in 2014).