Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Statistics can be used for any purpose but the reality is that an extra 500,000 people are working and there is an increase in the number of people who no longer pay tax. More people pay at the 20% rate than before. If the Deputy wishes to make the comparison between how workers fare under the tax policies of this Government and the policies when Deputy Quinn was Minister for Finance, we can do so and I will win the argument hands down.

In respect of high earners paying no tax I intend introducing proposals to deal with that situation in so far as I can. There may be reasons for paying no tax in cases of recurring losses, capital allowances or profit not being made. Others are using tax relief schemes in ways I did not envisage and I intend to introduce proposals on this matter. If one considers the number of people working and the number of people exempt from tax, working people have more money in their pockets as a result of our tax policies than was the case when the Labour Party was in office. The final nail in the coffin of Deputy Burton's argument is that of the 19 percentage points reducing taxes, only one occurred during a Labour Party administration.

See this speech in context