Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 10, lines 20 to 23, to delete all words from and including “, or” in line 20 down to and including “€60,000” in line 23 and substitute “and has an aggregate income that exceeds €65,000”.

This is an attempt to shift the balance of taxation from those who cannot afford it to those who can. The universal social charge has imposed a devastating burden of reduced income on low and middle income earners in a way that has not only put many of the people concerned in a perilous financial state, adding to the difficulties of paying mortgages and bills, but has also had a devastating effect on their spending power and, consequently, the domestic economy. The first amendment is aimed at trying to relieve the burden of the universal social charge on those on low and middle incomes, that is, those earning less than €65,000 a year. The second suggests the new rate for pensioners should only apply to pensioners earning in excess of €65,000.

I wish to make one point to which the Minister and the Government have never really responded. At some level, they would accept that income cuts for low and middle income earners have dampened or damaged the domestic economy, but they see it as a necessary evil and suggest there is no real alternative. What I am trying to point to is that, if we shift the burden to higher earners, it will, first, provide great relief for those who are suffering and simply cannot afford these cuts in their income, and, second, impose higher taxes on those who can afford them and, therefore, not do as much damage to the economy.

When people have higher earnings, they have money they can save. As we know, savings in the State have actually increased and, as they are clearly not being made by low and middle income earners, have been accumulated by higher earners who do not need the money to survive and put it in the bank. If what we are trying to do is release funds back into the economy, it is far more logical to tax those on higher incomes than it is to tax those on low and middle incomes. I doubt very much the Minister is going to accept my amendments, but I would interested to hear his response to my argument.