Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is a lot of commentary, which we heard again last night, about the amount of tax that was introduced in 2007 compared to now. The impression is that workers are overburdened with taxation. We hear commentary about USC being a temporary measure, with which I do not agree, and it is supposed to be abolished. What answer does Ms Murphy have regarding those arguments? Many people believe that when USC was introduced it put a huge tax burden on them. I have not made the analysis and will ask whether Social Justice Ireland has made it, but I would be sure that in each category of income, if someone was earning €20,000, €30,000, €40,000, €50,000 up to €100,000 pre-USC, they were actually paying more tax than they are today with USC, given the changes that have happened in the past few years.