Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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23. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to introduce a tax on net wealth exceeding €1 million in order to fund public investment. [16312/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As there is currently no such wealth tax in operation in Ireland, the Department understands that the Revenue Commissioners have no basis or requirement to compile the data needed to produce 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 assets and liabilities in the State, nor is it recorded in a manner that would allow analysis of the implications of an overarching wealth based tax.

In 2013 the Central Statistics Office conducted the first comprehensive survey of household wealth in Ireland (the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS)). The survey provides information on the ownership and values of different types of assets and liabilities along with more general information on income, employment and household composition.

During 2016, my Department, jointly with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), conducted a research project into the distribution of wealth in Ireland and the potential implications of a wealth tax using the HFCS. The research formed part of an on-going joint-research programme with the ESRI on the Macro-Economy and Taxation. The research paper, available on the ESRI website (), presented results on the composition of wealth across both the wealth and income distributions in Ireland. A number of wealth tax scenarios were then applied to the Irish data (wealth tax regimes from other jurisdictions and hypothetical scenarios). In each case, the associated tax bases and revenue yields, the number of liable households across the income distribution, and the characteristics of the households affected are outlined.

It should be noted that while Ireland does not have a specific ‘wealth tax’, the state already taxes wealth in a variety of ways, such as CAT, CGT, LPT and stamp duty. In 2019 CAT, CGT, stamp duty and LPT combined raised €3.6 billion. It should also be noted that, a significant portion of net household wealth is directly related to housing assets including family homes.

My Department will monitor and consider any additional information and data that comes to light and will continue to examine potential taxation sources. However, there are currently no plans to introduce a specific wealth tax.