Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Here we are, back to tax again. The pension contribution or deduction is not a tax and what is envisaged in sections 9 and 10 is certainly not a tax but a real reduction in public expenditure and the agreed contract prices over which the State is taking powers to vary under these sections. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the imposition of taxation. It relates to contractual arrangements entered into by the State and which the State now wishes to vary by way of reduction. This is an essential power for the State if it is to be able to address this economic emergency.

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