Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The main question I asked the Minister was a political one: what was the rationale for giving a tax break of €830 a year to people earning more than €100,000? Let us personalise that. I think it is important to do that. Everybody in this House is going to get a gift of €830 from the State due to the Minister's decision. As I have said, there are great numbers of people with incomes hugely in excess of what anybody in this House earns, including the Taoiseach. The Minister has told me that the figure is 132,000. What is his rationale for this tax break? I cannot understand what that rationale is, in light of the enormous pressure on so many people and given that it will undoubtedly make our tax system less progressive. I am sure the Minister would agree that is not a desirable objective. He has provided us with some figures. I am not sure anybody here would notice an extra 3% in tax on our incomes above €100,000. Would we seriously notice that? Would somebody earning €500,000 seriously notice an extra 3% in tax? We need to be frank about this. The Minister says there is potential for raising almost €500 million from such a measure, which would improve productivity and would be fair to everybody. It would raise almost half a billion euro for a huge number of areas that are crying out for funding, for example across disability services, health and education. The Minister has the potential to raise a significant amount of money on the grounds of fairness. He says it would lead to a lack of competitiveness. There is no evidence of which I am aware to prove that. If there is, will the Minister kindly produce it?

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