Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 6, line 41, to delete "€15,028" and substitute "€18,304".

This matter arose on Committee Stage. The Minister is proposing taxation with the levy below the minimum wage. While the Minister says that in times of crisis we must spread the burden, this is an arbitrary way of doing it. The Minister adverted to the major anomalies we are creating in the structure of these levies. The PRSI levy has an allowance of €127 a week, the health levy has a cut-off point of €500 a week and the Lenihan levy has new cut-off point of under €300 a week. There is no high principle being applied. We must come to some sort of consistency in the way we treat income at different levels. There must be fairness rather than step changes in the structure of the tax code that are driven by convenience on the day. The Minister will tell us he will wait for the Commission on Taxation and then have new insight. It seems that some of the insights are not rocket science. We are creating a patchwork quilt of impositions and these create real burdens for those caught within them. There must be a more consistent approach across the types of levy with some grading of burden that is fair in its impact.

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