Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 7, to delete lines 31 to 38 and substitute the following:

"6.—This section shall allow for the abolition of the current PRSI ceiling and will come into operation on 1 January 2009.".

I have been making the point for some time that this budget presented the Government with an opportunity to make choices. In respect of poverty issues, it could decide that both low income and middle income families are supported. When I was first elected, Members used to discuss low income families. However, what used to be middle income families effectively now have become low income families, particularly when in receipt of a single income. For example, I refer to a household comprising a couple with three children and a substantial mortgage on a single income of €50,000 or marginally in excess of that sum. While such a case would be regarded as a middle income family, the people involved are liable to experience hardship.

The Government did not make the correct choices. While I have addressed this area previously in respect of an earlier amendment and I am reluctant to go over it again, had the Government chosen to remove the ceiling, as I propose in this amendment, it would have given it an income stream of more than €295 million, which constitutes a substantial sum in anyone's language. It is most unfortunate that the Government did not make this choice.

When one considers the other side of the coin, the Government introduced what it called a 1% income levy. While it really constitutes a 1% increase in taxation, if the Government wishes to call it an income levy that is fair enough. My main problem with it is that it was introduced at the level of the minimum wage. Once one exceeds the minimum wage by a single euro, one becomes liable for the full amount of the 1% income levy, which was a crazy choice to make. The Minister should recognise this amendment affords a possibility to deal substantially with income streams to Revenue and she should avail of such an opportunity.

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