Our taxation system is among the most progressive in the OECD in that those on lower incomes pay less income tax as a share of their income than those on higher incomes. Budget 2023 included a significant personal income tax package, estimated to cost €1.13 billion. Overall, in all the measures contained in that tax package, it is expected 2.1 million taxpayers will benefit in different ways. It is important to bear in mind, however, that tax measures form only one component of the budget. The Department’s analysis…

I appreciate the point raised by the Deputy. I have made great efforts in changes I made to the USC to deal with the issue he identified. As he will know, changes in PRSI have other consequences of which the Minister of Social Protection will be aware. I have no doubt at all that she will give a clear and justified account of what is happening from a PRSI perspective. However, the reason we did make the changes in USC is to ensure that somebody sees his or her wages go up due to a change in the minimum wage and is …

As the Deputy knows, many of the institutes he is quoting regarding the progressive nature of our budget are the same institutions that are saying the measures we brought in should be temporary. The one-off measures should indeed be temporary in the hope that the cost-of-living pressures about which we are all concerned begin to change and moderate, and offer an opportunity then to change the level of support we have in place if things begin to improve and prices begin to moderate. I would, therefore, make the case…

A stamp duty charge of 1% normally applies to the purchase of shares. However, I am advised by Revenue that the stamp duty treatment of share buybacks depends on the form in which the shares are held and the method by which the buybacks are affected. Share buyback refers to the practice whereby a company purchases or buys back its own shares. For shares held in certificated or paper form, the shares may be bought back in two ways. The first is by means of a standard stock transfer form. The second is where the shar…

I would love to be able to point out whether this is a matter Sinn Féin considered in its alternative budget but I cannot because it is not available. I did evaluate it, however. In evaluating and consulting with my officials on it, the view I have reached is that a change to it at this point could limit the ability of our capital markets to operate. Those capital markets are important for providing funding and investment to companies based in Ireland. I did give consideration to it. I have decided that at this poi…

I have no doubt that Sinn Féin's pre-budget statement is going to be available later today.

Not at all. Actually, the Deputy did post it to me - I have a copy of it - but it was not available today. It has not been available over the last number of days and the Deputy knows why. The figures do not add up, the proposals are a source of risk and any new issue, any bus that goes by, Sinn Féin wants to hop on it.

Sinn Féin does not want the country to know what its track record is and what its proposals are.

I am going to answer. I am only too happy to answer the Deputy's question. We did indeed consider this matter following the publication of the tax strategy group paper. As I said to the Dáil, we are going to continue to monitor this matter. It was the view of my Department, and I assessed the matter myself, that any change in the current regime could cause unintended consequences, including conflicting with European and domestic capital markets, and might raise potential issues for Irish companies that are accessin…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 97, 146 and 159 together. This new charging mechanism was legislated for in 2019. It is not a result of anything that was contained in this budget or the current Finance Bill. We indicated in 2019 that these changes were to come in. I appreciate why the Deputy is raising this matter and the impact it may have on some of his constituents. I recognise that. However, this is a change that has been very clearly flagged over a number of years now, recognising that it could well create a …

I appreciate that the costs the Deputy refers to are very significant. I have no doubt that constituents are contacting him about the matter and are concerned about it. I respectfully make the case to him again that we have been flagging this change for a number of years. My concern is that if we were to change or defer a significant change in BIK that has been very well flagged at this point, there could well be other car users who have already made decisions in anticipation of this coming in. I have to be conscio…

I want to recognise the huge work the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, has done on this. He has put incredible energy into assessing where we are from a policy perspective with a part of our economy he understands well, namely our credit union movement. He regrets that he cannot be here to take the Deputy’s question but he is representing us on Government business in Brussels. The Government recognises the importance of credit unions as a provider of community banking services. The programme for Government contai…

The Deputy is dead right. For example, in the early part of 2021 some 19 credit unions participated in the Covid-19 credit guarantee scheme. It was great to have those individual credit unions participate in that scheme. Beyond that, five credit unions were announced as participants in the Brexit impact loan scheme. If I look at the participation of the credit union sector within our lending landscape, the SME lending they are engaged in has grown by just over 15% year-on-year at the end of June. I am seeing positi…

It is very positive to hear the example the Deputy has of the acquisition of the Bank of Ireland building in Bantry. I know the building the Deputy is referring to and I can only imagine that will have a positive impact on the presence of credit union services to her constituents. We will continue to work within Government with the sector to try to support it, in an appropriate way, in the development of its services to our economy. There is a rare opportunity ahead for this movement, which many of its members appr…

Details of the new TBESS are set out in Finance Bill 2022. Farmers will be eligible for payments under the TBESS in the same way as any other business that is carrying out a trade which is taxable under case I of Schedule D where they meet all eligibility criteria. A person engaged in a trade of farming who has suffered an increase of at least 50% in the average unit price of electricity or natural gas for the relevant billing period in 2022, as compared with the average unit price for electricity and gas, or both,…

I am virtually positive that is the case but I will come back to the Deputy to confirm that. I will provide that full clarification when we are debating the Finance Bill. As I have said, if businesses have a trading relationship with the Revenue Commissioners under case I, they are included in the scheme. There are some positive signals on the design of the scheme. The feedback is that the number of businesses that are not participating in it at the moment is less than it was when we were bringing forward other sim…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 117 together. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has informed me that the draft maps indicating the land that falls within the scope of the RZLT were published by all 31 local authorities in respect of land within their administrative areas on 1 November 2022. These maps are available on the websites of each local authority concerned and in their public offices. They are also centrally available at www.gov.ie/rzlt . Landowners may now make submissions o…

I engaged with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when we were bringing in the changes. In fairness to the Minister, he raised the same issues the Deputy has just raised a year ago when we were designing this new tax. He raised the issue of land in smaller towns that could be owned by farmers and is zoned for residential use. Our judgment - the Deputy will know this better from a local point of view - is that the overall amount of land is a low share of the total amount of land that will be taxed und…

I hope the last recourse in this regard will be the involvement of An Bord Pleanála, which is having enough demands placed on it. Like the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I want and expect any questions or concerns regarding the status of land to be dealt with by local authorities. It should not involve having to use An Bord Pleanála in any way. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and his officials have been working to prepare to put the resources in place to allow these dec…

The VAT rating of goods and services is subject to the requirements of EU VAT law, with which our law must comply. As the Deputy is aware, significant changes have now occurred with regard to that. The tax strategy group, TSG, published a paper earlier this year outlining some of the options now available for Ireland and other member states to consider. I suspect the one the Deputy is most aware of is that concerning solar panels and the potential for a lower rate or zero rate of VAT for them. I did not believe it …