Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection
Social Welfare Entitlements for Self-Employed: ISME, SEA and SFA
2:30 pm
Mr. Mark Fielding:
We will do that. We have never had cover in this country but now we are being asked to provide cover and to make it mandatory. All I am saying is that in other countries right across Europe, the arrangement is voluntary. We would not have a problem with that. I do not want to see a money-grab by the Revenue Commissioners. If the arrangement is made mandatory, with a figure of 0.35%, this results in a figure of 4%. I have lived long enough in this country to know taxes increase all the time. That is my difficulty from a small business perspective. If I am taxed more, I will be unable to make any more jobs that would allow us all to get out of this recession. The problem is that if I am taxed more, I will find it more difficult to employ more people.