PwC warns clients to sell assets before Sinn Féin gets into power
Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2023 7:25 pm
https://www.businesspost.ie/article/pwc ... nto-power/
A draft PwC report to their clients has advised them to accelerate their asset sales and boost their pension contributions in order to protect their wealth before Sinn Féin gets into power.
The Big Four accounting firm has analysed the party’s plans to increase income tax for higher earners, to gather more inheritance tax and to bring in a second home tax.
The advice note, titled “What a Sinn Féin budget may look like”, outlines actions that PwC clients could consider to protect their wealth. They include accelerating “asset sales”, “pension contributions”, “gifts”, and bonuses and dividends.
This would allow clients to avoid the impact of future Sinn Féin policies such as higher taxes on asset sales for large earners, reduced tax relief for large pensions and a 1 per cent wealth tax on people with assets of over €1 million. Sinn Féin is also proposing to increase the tax on dividends.
Fine Gael has seized on the PwC note on Sinn Féin’s budget plans as an example of the “huge threat” that Sinn Féin would pose if it got into government.
Peter Burke, the Minister of State for European Affairs, said the note highlighted the “huge threat” that Sinn Féin’s tax policies posed to the Irish economy, particularly multinational companies.
“The tax, borrow and spend strategy would drive our economy off a cliff,” he said.
Burke said that the Sinn Féin policy of increasing taxes such as capital gains tax and stamp duty did not take into account whether this would actually raise extra revenue.
“They are the cheerleaders to dish out the cake of resources but never detail the ingredients needed to make it in the first place,” he said.
The PwC advice note, which is dated March 2023 and titled “draft for discussion”, is the latest sign of how seriously large accounting firms like PwC are taking the prospect of Sinn Féin getting into government.
It has been the most popular party in Business Post/Red C polls since September 2021 and was at 31 per cent in last month’s poll.
Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin leader, and her frontbench TDs are now being lobbied by business groups and large corporates who would have previously shied away from dealing with the party. Google and Meta have held meetings with McDonald in recent months, according to the Lobbying Register.
A Sinn Féin spokesman said that it was customary for firms to advise their clients about potential tax changes.
“Firms are currently advising landlords to sell their properties as a result of changes made to the tax code by Fine Gael,” he said.
The Sinn Féin spokesman said that the biggest threat facing businesses is the housing crisis, which is undermining their ability to attract and retain talent.
“Sinn Féin is determined to work with industry to build a high-wage, innovative economy that drives a broad-based increase in living standards,” he said.
The advice note from PwC lists 20 different tax changes that Sinn Féin has promised to implement in its alternative budget last year. These include the gradual removal of income tax credits from workers earning over €100,000, a solidarity tax of 3 per cent on all income over €140,000 and a second home tax of €400 per property.
Sinn Féin wants to increase the stamp duty on house sales worth over €700,000 from 1 per cent to 2 per cent. The stamp duty on house sales over €1 million would increase from 2 per cent to 5 per cent.
The PwC advice note also highlights Sinn Féin’s policy of increasing employers’ PRSI on workers earning over €100,000 from 11 per cent to 13.5 per cent.
However, Sinn Féin has insisted that its alternative budget proposals would “give workers and families a break” with tax relief for renters, social welfare increases and reduced childcare costs.
The PwC note also mentions Sinn Féin’s proposal to introduce a “pollution tax” on private jet departure and to increase the bank levy. Michael McGrath, the Minister for Finance, has launched a public consultation on the future of the bank levy, which brings in €150 million per year.
The PwC advice note also suggests that clients could “avail of reliefs” to blunt the impact of Sinn Féin’s tax policies. Those mentioned include business property relief, retirement relief, entrepreneur relief, agricultural relief and pension lump sums. All these tax reliefs could potentially be used to reduce a person’s tax bill.
A draft PwC report to their clients has advised them to accelerate their asset sales and boost their pension contributions in order to protect their wealth before Sinn Féin gets into power.
The Big Four accounting firm has analysed the party’s plans to increase income tax for higher earners, to gather more inheritance tax and to bring in a second home tax.
The advice note, titled “What a Sinn Féin budget may look like”, outlines actions that PwC clients could consider to protect their wealth. They include accelerating “asset sales”, “pension contributions”, “gifts”, and bonuses and dividends.
This would allow clients to avoid the impact of future Sinn Féin policies such as higher taxes on asset sales for large earners, reduced tax relief for large pensions and a 1 per cent wealth tax on people with assets of over €1 million. Sinn Féin is also proposing to increase the tax on dividends.
Fine Gael has seized on the PwC note on Sinn Féin’s budget plans as an example of the “huge threat” that Sinn Féin would pose if it got into government.
Peter Burke, the Minister of State for European Affairs, said the note highlighted the “huge threat” that Sinn Féin’s tax policies posed to the Irish economy, particularly multinational companies.
“The tax, borrow and spend strategy would drive our economy off a cliff,” he said.
Burke said that the Sinn Féin policy of increasing taxes such as capital gains tax and stamp duty did not take into account whether this would actually raise extra revenue.
“They are the cheerleaders to dish out the cake of resources but never detail the ingredients needed to make it in the first place,” he said.
The PwC advice note, which is dated March 2023 and titled “draft for discussion”, is the latest sign of how seriously large accounting firms like PwC are taking the prospect of Sinn Féin getting into government.
It has been the most popular party in Business Post/Red C polls since September 2021 and was at 31 per cent in last month’s poll.
Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin leader, and her frontbench TDs are now being lobbied by business groups and large corporates who would have previously shied away from dealing with the party. Google and Meta have held meetings with McDonald in recent months, according to the Lobbying Register.
A Sinn Féin spokesman said that it was customary for firms to advise their clients about potential tax changes.
“Firms are currently advising landlords to sell their properties as a result of changes made to the tax code by Fine Gael,” he said.
The Sinn Féin spokesman said that the biggest threat facing businesses is the housing crisis, which is undermining their ability to attract and retain talent.
“Sinn Féin is determined to work with industry to build a high-wage, innovative economy that drives a broad-based increase in living standards,” he said.
The advice note from PwC lists 20 different tax changes that Sinn Féin has promised to implement in its alternative budget last year. These include the gradual removal of income tax credits from workers earning over €100,000, a solidarity tax of 3 per cent on all income over €140,000 and a second home tax of €400 per property.
Sinn Féin wants to increase the stamp duty on house sales worth over €700,000 from 1 per cent to 2 per cent. The stamp duty on house sales over €1 million would increase from 2 per cent to 5 per cent.
The PwC advice note also highlights Sinn Féin’s policy of increasing employers’ PRSI on workers earning over €100,000 from 11 per cent to 13.5 per cent.
However, Sinn Féin has insisted that its alternative budget proposals would “give workers and families a break” with tax relief for renters, social welfare increases and reduced childcare costs.
The PwC note also mentions Sinn Féin’s proposal to introduce a “pollution tax” on private jet departure and to increase the bank levy. Michael McGrath, the Minister for Finance, has launched a public consultation on the future of the bank levy, which brings in €150 million per year.
The PwC advice note also suggests that clients could “avail of reliefs” to blunt the impact of Sinn Féin’s tax policies. Those mentioned include business property relief, retirement relief, entrepreneur relief, agricultural relief and pension lump sums. All these tax reliefs could potentially be used to reduce a person’s tax bill.