Paul Murphy: Wealth Tax Urgent as 11 Billionaires Outweigh 3.5M

Tánaiste, 11 Irish billionaires now own more wealth than two-thirds of the population. Half of the population owns less than 10% of the total wealth. It's time for a wealth tax. A wealth tax on the richest 1% could raise €9 billion. At a time when so many people are suffering in one of the richest countries in the world, isn't it time to introduce one? Thanks very much, Ciarán. Thank you very much to Deputy Murphy. As the Deputy will be aware, wealth is already taxed in a number of ways in Ireland. This includes capital gains tax, capital acquisitions tax, local property tax. Stamp duty also acts as a tax on wealth, including that charged on the acquisition of shares, stocks, marketable securities of Irish-registered companies, and on the acquisition of property, both residential and non-residential. The revenue raised from a wealth tax, regardless of the form it takes, may not be additional to that raised by the existing forms of wealth taxation, as the revenues from those taxes could be impacted by the introduction of a wealth tax too. In looking at the question of wealth taxes, the Commission on Taxation and Welfare's 2022 report identified challenges that would impede the implementation of such a tax. Their conclusion was that a new tax on net wealth should not be introduced without first attempting to substantially amend Ireland's existing taxes on capital and wealth. The Commission argued that an alternative to introducing a new tax on wealth, that's CGT and CAT, could be re-examined. These are existing taxes on wealth that have well-established but distinct bases and are well understood in their operation. A 2024 report by the Parliamentary Budget Office entitled An Overview of Taxes on Wealth in Ireland noted, amongst other things, that a specific wealth tax risks an increased concentration of overall tax receipts on a relatively small proportion of taxpayers. It proposed base-broadening measures to increase the number of taxpayers and to diversify revenue sources. It's important to note that Ireland has one of the most progressive taxation systems and social transfers of any EU or OECD country, which contributes to the redistribution of income and the reduction of income inequality. In 2016, my department worked with the ESRI to conduct a research project into the distribution of wealth in Ireland and the potential implications of a wealth tax. Recognising the passage of time that's elapsed since this research project was undertaken, the ESRI are currently conducting analysis under a joint research programme. This will include scenario and distribution analysis under a range of wealth tax scenarios. A draft paper will be completed before the end of the year and will consider the analysis in due course, but I do not plan on introducing a wealth tax in Budget 2027. Deputy, I'll give you one reply. Thanks. I mean, we heard this week from Barnardo's that in Ireland, one of the richest countries in the world, 30% of parents say that they don't have enough food to feed their children. It's incredible. 44% of parents, almost one in two parents, saying that they have to cut back themselves so their kids have enough to eat. That's at one side of the pole of Irish capitalism. On the other side is the 11 billionaires who are richer than 66% of the population. 11 people richer than two thirds of the population put together. 3.5 million people. That's up from nine billionaires in 2024. The richest two billionaires have more wealth than the bottom 50%. And that is an Irish expression of a global trend where billionaire wealth grew three times faster in 2025 than the average annual rate of the previous five years. We now have our first world's trillionaire, although I saw because of the share prices he may not be a trillionaire right at this moment again, but it speaks to the massive inequality and a wealth tax, a tax on assets of the multimillionaires and billionaires in this country is one way to begin to tackle this inequality and to put money back into people's pockets. Thanks very much. I suppose I've already thanked Deputy Murphy for his contribution. I've already outlined, I suppose, the Commission on Taxation and Welfare's 2022 report and the issues that it suggested would impede the implementation of such a tax and the Parliamentary Budget Office report of 2024. I've also outlined how we have one of the most progressive taxation systems and social transfer systems in the EU and OECD and the research work being carried out by the ESRI. But I've no doubt this is an issue that Deputy Murphy will return to again when we maybe have a longer time to discuss and engage.