Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Both submissions make the same point about cuts rather than taxes. I am not saying there should not be any cuts, but I question whether there might be taxes. In order to pay a contribution for a service one has to have income. Income is the flow out of which taxes can be paid. When everything is in balance, as Mr. Ronan Lyons said in the previous submission, one can have a tax from the notional income that comes from owning sites or land, depending on whether the land is residential, commercial, retail or whatever. When in balance, an economy can put a demand on the owners of land for a contribution towards the general purse. When, however, the revenues of the State have suffered a sudden drop off a precipice and when expenditure is way above revenue, one has to look to revenue, temporarily, as bridging financing for the readjustment programme in order to maintain fairness as well as take a reality check, to use Ms Callan's own words.

There is income. We know this from having asked the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners. A high incomes levy on incomes of €120,000 and over would produce €520 million. A corporation tax uplift of 2.5% on the headline rate-----