Paul Murphy asks whether Ireland should tolerate billionaires
Paul Murphy challenged the presence of billionaires in Ireland and proposed a 100% wealth tax on fortunes above €1 billion to fund housing, renewable energy and public transport, while noting practical limits. He also defended recent government achievements on equality and cited statistics on poverty and income inequality.
Billionaires in Ireland
Paul Murphy cited the Sunday Times Rich List and the Ireland's Rich List programme, noting there are 17 billionaires in Ireland and naming figures such as Dennis O'Brien, Larry Goodman and the Dunn and Heffernan family. He asked whether, given levels of deprivation, the housing crisis and the climate crisis, society should allow billionaires.
100% wealth tax proposal and spending priorities
He proposed a 100% wealth tax on all wealth from €1 billion and above as a way to fund public investment. He suggested such a levy could build 150,000 carbon neutral homes, enable a transition to 100% renewable energy creating 36,000 jobs, and deliver a complete transition to free, green and frequent public transport for the next 20 years.
Practical limitations of a total levy
Murphy acknowledged limitations to a 100% tax, saying many billionaires are not resident in the state and would likely not be resident if such a tax were imposed. He warned that a 100% tax would produce no yield, arguing "if you tax something 100% you're not going to get any revenue out of it."
Government record on equality
He framed his remarks alongside a defence of his government's social record, saying he was proud to have helped repeal the Eighth Amendment and bring about marriage equality. He added that the government has presided over five years in which poverty and deprivation rates have fallen.
Statistics on income inequality
Murphy cited CSO figures, saying income inequality in Ireland is now at its second lowest since records began, and he noted this as an unusual achievement for a socialist government. The speech juxtaposed ambitious redistribution proposals with acknowledgement of practical fiscal constraints.
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The programme for government contains a commitment to tackle inequality, obviously one could be forgiven for thinking that it really should say create and deepen, worsen inequality but in any case, I'm not sure if the Taoiseach has been watching the Ireland's Rich List programme on Virgin Media, at the moment according to the Sunday Times Rich List you have 17 billionaires in Ireland, not multi-millionaires, billionaires, there's people like Dennis O'Brien, Larry Goodman and the Dunn and Heffernan family, so the question is does the Taoiseach believe that we should have billionaires in our society in this day and age, given the levels of deprivation, given the housing crisis, given the climate crisis which needs investment, should we as a society have billionaires or if you're serious about tackling inequality should the government move to ban billionaires by having 100% wealth tax on all wealth from 1 billion and in excess of 1 billion euros and with that you could build 150,000 carbon neutral homes, you could transition to 100% renewable energy creating 36,000 jobs and you could have a complete transition to free, green and frequent public transport for the next 20 years. A lot of those billionaires are not resident in the state and if you brought in 100% tax on them they would definitely not be resident in the state, the yield from any tax that's 100% is zero, so rather than bringing in revenue we'd probably end up with less, I think anyone will understand that if you tax something 100% you're not going to get any revenue out of it. There are many forms of equality, Deputy, there is equality before the law and I'm proud to be part of a government that helped to repeal the Eighth Amendment, that helped to bring about marriage equality in this state and I'm proud to be part of a government that for five years has seen poverty and deprivation rates reduce in Ireland and according to the CSO income inequality in Ireland is now at its second lowest since records began, it's something that very few socialist governments have ever achieved.
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