Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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104. To ask the Minister for Finance the projected yield in 2017 of introducing a wealth tax of 2% on all assets, financial and property, excluding the family home and farm. [28035/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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There is currently no statistical basis for Revenue to compile estimates in relation to a potential wealth tax. Although an individual's assets and liabilities are declared to the Revenue in a number of specific circumstances (for example, after a death), this information is not a complete measure of financial assets in the State, nor is it recorded in a manner that would allow analysis of the implications of an overarching wealth based tax.

As part of the research programme agreed between the Department of Finance and the ESRI covering macroeconomic and taxation issues, a research project involving detailed analysis of wealth distribution and taxation has been included. Officials from both institutions are currently analysing the components of the wealth held by Irish households, using data available from the CSO's Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) which was collected in 2013 and which the CSO made available to my department earlier this year. The research will enhance understanding of the distribution and composition of wealth in Ireland and will explore various wealth tax scenarios for the purposes of better-informed policy making.  The research project is ongoing and it is intended that the results will be ready for presentation at the Department's annual Tax Policy Conference in November 2016.