Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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Does the Minister accept that such a change would make the tax code more progressive precisely by leaving the USC? The USC should be renamed because it would no longer be a USC. Instead, the charge should be called a higher income social charge and only apply to the very top earners in our society, which would be a progressive move. I do not accept the argument that introducing new tax bands is an extremely complex thing. Other countries have more tax bands than we have so it clearly can be done. It is a question of political choices as to whether one hits ordinary working people with a tax like the USC or one does not do that but makes up for that through a combination of imposing a higher income tax on the very highest earners. Bear in mind that for all the talk of the higher marginal rate these higher earners would benefit from the fact that the first €90,000 is not getting hit so it would take a long time before the increased rates of income tax would overcome that. The Minister should make up for it on the basis of income tax but also, which I am sure we will get on to, in corporation tax and wealth tax. This is really about a different model of taxation. In my opinion, there is a broader model of taxation where one actually taxes corporate profits and the significant wealth that exists in our society.