Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 October 2024
132. Deputy Colm Brophy asked the Minister for Finance the additional cost to the State of increasing the help to buy scheme limit from €30,000 to €40,000, based on an average claim of €25,000 per year and €30,000 per year, and 8,000 approvals per year. [43738/24]
View answer133. Deputy Colm Brophy asked the Minister for Finance the additional cost to the State of increasing the help to buy scheme limit from €30,000 to €40,000, based on an average claim of €25,000 per year and €30,000 per year, and 9,000 approvals per year [43739/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 133 together.
The annual cost of the Help to Buy scheme is set out in the Cost of Tax Expenditures publication, which is available on the Revenue website at:
www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/statistics/tax-expenditures/costs-tax-expenditures.pdf
For 2023, there were 7,000 claims for Help to Buy with a total cost of €185 million, resulting in an average cost of €26,400.
To address the scenarios outlined by the Deputy:
• If 8,000 properties are claimed for at an average claim of €25,000, the estimated cost would be €200 million, with an additional cost to the Exchequer of €15 million.
• If 9,000 properties are claimed for at an average claim of €25,000, the estimated cost would be €225 million, with an additional cost to the Exchequer of €40 million.
• If 8,000 properties are claimed for at an average claim of €30,000, the estimated cost would be €240 million, with an additional cost to the Exchequer of €55 million.
• If 9,000 properties are claimed for at an average claim of €30,000, the estimated cost would be €270 million, with an additional cost to the Exchequer of €85 million.
These estimates assume that all claimants have paid sufficient tax over the previous four years to fully utilise the maximum amount of Help to Buy relief available to them in each case.
