Residential property tax was born of the Fine Gael-Labour Government in 1983. I repeat the commitment given by me on behalf of Fianna Fáil on budget day 1995, that Fianna Fáil will repeal residential property tax on its return to power. The political parentage of this tax was thrown into some doubt upon publication of the memoirs of former Taoiseach, Dr. Garret FitzGerald. The notion of residential property tax was always claimed by the Labour Party and sold as such from its inception. However, in his book, Dr. FitzGerald took umbrage at this notion and suggests that he and his daughter-in-law, now Minister of State Deputy Eithne Fitzgerald, were the originators of this daft concept. That proves Dr. FitzGerald has lost none of his very likeable political innocence since leaving power. One would have thought that few politicians would rush to claim such a stupid tax, but such considerations do not trouble Dr. FitzGerald.
What was the political rationale behind the introduction of residential property tax in 1983? The politics and philosophy behind such a tax was born out of the confused social thinking so beloved of Irish politics, the typical old Labour Party doctrine of begrudgery. The doctrine in politics of begrudgery is beloved by the left in Irish society, and acolytes and disciples are to be found in some media productions, print and broadcast. Although the politics of Europe has changed remarkably in the past decade, Ireland remains a bastion of an old regressive, sterile and outdated rhetoric of the left.
The Labour Party thinking in 1983 on residential property tax was roughly based on the concept that people in large houses should be taxed more. Someone would then have asked: "What about dear old ladies who live in large houses but have no income?" I presume some Labour Party guru came up with the idea of the income threshold and thus the residential property tax came into being.
The political philosophy of denigrating those who make an effort to improve themselves was not confined to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s but was at the background of much of the thinking of politicians and advisers, particularly those of the left, in recent years. It can be summed up by the suggestion that if one makes a success of their lives, whether getting a job or promotion or starting up a business and employing people, one is to be denigrated. Those people are usually praised for a few years and told they are great to employ 200 or 300 people, but as sure as night follows day, if people are too successful they are pulled down by those who probably have denigrated them from the outset. That is a unique Irish phenomenon which has grown apace in recent years, particularly in some publications. It was at the root of much of the difficulties and thinking of the 1990s and was referred to in many debates in this House. Many people who make a success of themselves and provide employment are pulled down by people using the privilege of this House and by their acolytes in the media. Those who go to the effort of making a success of themselves should not be denigrated.
Most politicians will agree with what I am saying, but one cannot be too outspoken in this regard because one would be given the tag "right-winger", one who is in favour of making the poor pay. People in cushy jobs, usually supported by the State or by institutions, those who have enough money to pay their employees and have never been forced to let them go, denigrate people who have had to mortgage their houses in order to support their business. That form of begrudgery is endemic in Irish society.
I am sure the Minister of State will agree with much of what I say in that regard. It is to the shame of many politicians and commentators that this practice has become the accepted form. It is at the root of much political thinking of the present day and it was at the root of the concept of residential property tax in 1983. The rationale behind the confused economic thinking of many people such as Dr. Garret FitzGerald escapes me now as it did then.
Unless we are prepared to accept the "risk and reward" principle we will not encourage native Irish entrepreneurs and business people to get ahead. If we foster the practice of knocking the man or woman who makes a success of themselves we are at nought. We never seem to knock the entrepreneur who comes here from afar or the multinational which sets up in one of our constituencies. It is the Irish person who perhaps started off with very little and has worked very hard who is constantly knocked. In recent years a number of Irish people have suffered in this way, although nobody would say that everybody in business is a saint.
Those who have survived and succeeded in business despite the bureaucracy have to work hard and possibly on occasion have to take short cuts. Whenever I hear Members of this House, particularly from the left, denigrating or criticising such people whenever a mistake is made I feel violently ill because the people concerned have not created one job in their lives. Those who make policy and policy initiators within the Civil Service should bear this in mind. Unless we make some efforts to correct this confused political thinking and devise a new political, social and economic philosophy which praises the man or woman who makes an effort we will be at nought.
There was no logic behind the introduction of residential property tax and there is no logic behind the concept now. It is worth commencing this debate with a few thoughts on what the tax is all about. It is a tax on property, on a family or individual's home but unlike any other tax that I can think of and over which we may wish to disagree violently it does not start from an equitable basis. Many taxes have ended up being inequitable but each one that I can recall started out from an equitable basis.
Residential property tax is not an income or wealth tax; it is discriminatory, anti-family and grossly unfair. By its very nature it is arbitrary in its application. Yesterday, 1 October, was D-Day for residential property tax returns. Any member of the parties in Government can state what they like on this issue. If Fianna Fáil is of the view that a tax or policy is downright unfair, discriminatory, biased or penalises one section of the community or any one region it will immediately address the issue and abolish it. We have promised to do this in the case of residential property tax.
I wish to refer to the decision of Deputy Bertie Ahern when Minister for Finance in 1994 to adjust the valuation and income thresholds. My party leader may be too much of a gentleman to say so but as a member of the then Government I feel under no such constraints. The question of why the thresholds were adjusted should be put to the Labour Party members of that Government or alternatively to the spin doctors of the Labour Party both then and now.
The amendment tabled to this motion in the name of the Minister for Finance, a member of the Labour Party, reads: "That Dáil Éireann notes the speedy action taken by the Government in the 1995 budget to reverse, as promised in its Programme of Renewal, the changes in the income and house value thresholds for residential property tax introduced in the 1994 Finance Act...". Perhaps my former colleague, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Ruairi Quinn, would explain to the House why the income and house value thresholds were changed. I am constrained by the principle of Cabinet confidentiality but it was not Deputy Bertie Ahern, Deputy Cowen or me who thought up the idea.