Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 January 2005
346 Mr. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the cost of introducing refundable tax credits solely for tax expenditures, that is, in respect of credits on expenditures which taxpayers have actually incurred such as mortgage interest, health insurance, bin charges and so on. [34590/04]
View answerTax relief for mortgage interest and health insurance already operate in effect as refundable tax credits as the relief is given at source to all, irrespective of tax liability. As for the costs of introducing refundable credits generally, this depends on the particular expenditure involved, the liability of individual taxpayers and the impact on economic behaviour of changing to a refundable tax credits system. It is not possible at this point to assess such costs with any degree of certainty.
347 Mr. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if he has considered introducing a system whereby the tax relief on bin charges would be deducted at source in the same way as applied to health insurance and mortgage interest payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34591/04]
View answerThe current tax relief for waste service charges is provided by granting a relief to taxpayers based on the charges they have paid to local authorities and private operators in the previous year, provided of course that they have actually paid the relevant amount and on time. I appreciate the thrust of the various points raised by the Deputy. There are, however, a number of factors which mitigate against a system of tax relief at source for waste service charges, in particular the different ways that service charges operate in local authorities, the changeover to the pay by use system of charging and the number of private operators involved. In general, a tax relief at source operates more easily where there are a limited number of providers of the service for the tax system to deal with. I will, however, bear in mind what the Deputy has said when I next review the application of the system.
