Tax Reliefs
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Edward Timmins (FG), Wicklow

I will give a simple example to illustrate this better. If you had €10,000 in savings, you bought shares today and they gained by 20% over the next five years, say, 4% per annum, that would mean they would be worth €12,000 in five years' time. If inflation is a similar rate, which may well happen - 20% over the next five years - your €12,000 in five years is worth the same as €10,000 today because the 20% inflation has wiped out that 20% gain. You have no real gain, in effect, but if you go to sell those shares in five years' time, you are deemed to have made a gain of €2,000 because you bought the shares for €10,000 and sold them for €12,000. However, you are actually no better off because the €12,000 in five years' time is worth the same as the €10,000 today. Yet, you have to pay a tax on that €2,000. That is my whole point. It is effectively an annual stealth tax.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-26