Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 December 2012
57. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if he will indicate in the Budget 2013 documentation where account has been taken of the discontinuance of the household charge revenue in 2013 which was estimated at €160 million in 2012 and the discontinuance of the non principal private residence revenue, estimated at €70 million in 2012. [57389/12]
View answer76. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 62 of 12 December 2012, if he will point out specifically where in the budget documentation the cessation of the household charge in 2013 is taken account of; and his views on whether fairer and more consistent presentation of the budget numbers would have involved netting off the cessation of the household charge, which was shown as tax revenue in the Budget 2012 documentation, against the projected yield from the new local property tax. [57575/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 76 together.
The Revised Estimates for Public Services 2012, published by my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, showed that revenues from the Household Charge were paid directly into the Local Government Fund (LGF) and used to fund Local Government services (Vote No. 25, Page 114). With revenues going directly to the LGF, this meant that the Exchequer was no longer required to make a subvention to the fund. As a result, the impact of the charge was reflected as a reduction in Exchequer subventions to the LGF in Budget 2012 calculations, and not as a tax revenue. This reduction in Exchequer subventions to the LGF has been maintained for 2013, and is captured as such in the budgetary projections.
As a matter of budgetary consistency, the impact of the cessation of the Household Charge as a revenue raising measure will be reflected in the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2013, scheduled for publication next February. With regard to revenues from the Non-Principal Private Residence Charge, Budget 2013 outlines that the charge will cease with effect from 1 January 2014. In light of this, the impact of the discontinuance of this measure will be reflected in later publications.
