Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

We are being criticised for a fiscal policy with unsustainable tax rates. The Labour Party made a policy decision to have low income taxes, which policy is now shown to have been unsustainable because if one has low income taxes one will be dependent on other taxes, in this case property stamp duty. We saw the Opposition seeking to abolish stamp duty, which would have massively inflated and increased the property bubble. I was glad the Minister reminded the House last night that Deputies Bruton and O'Donnell put forward a proposal earlier this year, in an amendment to the Finance Bill, for a property based tax relief for doctors.

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