Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Ms Feehily made another comment a moment ago. I wish to discuss the costs. Ms Feehily stated that the Revenue Commissioners are moving on to deductions at source, starting with people in employment, etc. She said it would then move on to people on social welfare payments. When might that be? They have to pay their full amount for this year but what if the Revenue Commissioners only get to them in October or September? Does Ms Feehily understand where I am coming from? This is another problem for people on social welfare who must pay the tax. A person in employment must pay between 1 July and the end of December. The payment will be deducted in six equal monthly instalments taken from the weekly or monthly wages or salary, as the case may be. There will be a time lag by the time the Revenue Commissioners have established all of those processes. Ms Feehily said the Revenue Commissioners would then get on to the people who will have deductions from social welfare payments. Let us suppose that takes place in September. That means they will have a full half-year return to be deducted out of three months of payments. They will have a high deduction for the last three months of the year because the deductions will not start from 1 July. That will represent another serious upset. I have been saying to people that €45 is all they will have to pay, depending on their house, and that it will only be approximately €2 per week. However, now they will find that the deduction from the State pension only clicks in for the last quarter. It could be €4 per week running up to Christmas to get the full amount by the end of the year.