Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I have two problems with this resolution. The first is that the levy is too high on low income earners. The second is that it is too low on high income earners. That to me completely lacks fairness and reasonableness. I had understood that fairness was to be one of the cornerstones of what we are talking about here.

I am concerned that we are going to abandon people on low incomes to moneylenders. They simply will not be able to sustain this level of taxation at those level of incomes, that is, below the minimum wage. The very least I should have expected was an exemption on the threshold of €18,304, as with the income levy. The proposals we made in the past week would have offered an alternative source of income. We proposed additional income and savings worth €3 billion during the current year or €5 billion in a full year. Our proposals would have protected those on the minimum wage from the impact of this economic crisis. This budget has further implications with which I will deal in the context of the relevant Financial Resolutions.

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