Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No. The bottom 30% or so of income earners pay no income tax. There is an issue. The balance of our tax system is extremely progressive, and it is one of the more progressive tax systems in the OECD. People earning €50,000 or less represent 77% of income tax earners and they will pay 19% of the total income tax collected. The balance of imposition is certainly towards those with the highest income. In any comparative table we are very progressive in our income tax and many people are protected. It is estimated that in 2014, 856,000 individuals representing 39% of the income tax base will be exempt from income tax completely. The evidence is contrary to the claims made by the Deputy. His rhetoric is very strong but it is not based in fact. The top 5% are paying 44% of all income tax and 856,000 individuals in 2014 - or 39% of the income tax base - will pay no income tax whatever. Those are the facts. I can understand where the Deputy is coming from but it would be helpful if his arguments were evidence and fact-based.

The universal social charge was not a new imposition introduced by the Minister of the day but rather a replacement for the health and income levies. Those levies, which existed for years, were amalgamated and titled as the universal social charge. The rate was increased, as it was an emergency measure in bad times. Considering the way it applies, it is probably a fairer system than income tax. It achieves one element which the Deputy is always advocating in that it applies to all income, getting rid of many exemptions, reliefs and breaks endemic to the income tax code. The universal social charge is universal.