Sinn Féin’s Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD and Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin will launch a motion today seeking an end to tax advantages for investment funds which are pushing home buyers out of the market.
A Dáil debate on the motion this evening will hear calls on the government to legislate to end the tax advantages enjoyed by institutional investors in the housing market.
The motion also implores government to bring forward measures to reverse their policy and end the displacement of workers, families and struggling home-buyers by these institutional investment funds.
Teachta Doherty said: “Institutional investors enjoy tax advantages and exemptions that are distorting the housing market.
“These institutional investors are pricing workers, families and struggling home buyers out of home ownership, and pushing up rents and property prices.
“They are also distorting the activities of developers, who are skewing supply to maximise their incomes, and the incomes of institutional investors, rather than the needs of society.
“This did not happen overnight or by accident.
“It is the direct consequence of government policy, introduced by the Fine Gael government and facilitated by Fianna Fáil.
“These institutional investment funds were granted massive tax advantages by Fine Gael.”
Doherty said many funds pay little tax on their profits.
“Against them, struggling home buyers don’t stand a chance.
“For years, Sinn Féin has called for these tax advantages to be brought to an end, and for additional taxes to be levied against these funds through a stamp duty surcharge.
“This motion calls on the government to implement these long-held Sinn Féin policies immediately, and to shift the balance in favour of struggling home-buyers.”
Teachta Ó Broin added: “We also need more far-reaching reform of the planning system to ensure that future planning applications have the right balance of owner-occupier and rental homes determined by local need, not the profit-seeking of large institutional investors.”
