Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2021-12-14
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Pat Casey (FF), Labour Panel

We are heading into a debate on capital gains. Capital gains tax needs to be looked at from a supply of housing point of view. It can form part of the solution. There are thousands of properties out there on short-term lettings because they are better value for money for their owners. We would much prefer to have those properties as part of the housing stock. There is a case to be made that if we reduce capital gains tax to 20%, we could get a lot of disposal of assets, which would in turn make up the revenue loss from a taxing measure point of view.
It is just an observation, but I am looking at this issue from a housing supply perspective and from the perspective of individuals who have a second property and are possibly basing their ownership on short-term letting at present. If capital gains tax was 20%, we might have a better opportunity to deliver that house into the supply chain rather than having owners sitting on it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2021-12-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-12-14