Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)

The Sinn Féin Private Members' motion is calling for the abolition of the universal social charge. We are calling on the Government to abolish this unfair tax and ensure that all taxes and social insurance contributions are raised progressively so that those who have the most pay the most. We must be clear on this. It is a flat tax. It breaches the fundamental principle of progressive taxation. It is nothing short of a scandal that anyone with an income of over €77 a week pays this tax and it is utterly immoral that anyone with an income above €16,016 is forced to pay the same rate of 7% as a person with an income of over €100,000. How can the Government justify this?

When Fianna Fáil was in government, it chose to concoct a taxation policy that favoured the wealthy and those who were already bestowed with plenty by the Celtic tiger. When it fell apart, it brought in measures that specifically targeted those who are already on and below the bread line. Bankers and beneficiaries of tax breaks are untouchable. The people who are being penalised by the universal social charge are those who are already struggling to survive and those who can barely afford to put food on the table.

How can any Government Minister or Deputy hold his or her head up in this Chamber and attempt to tell any person in this State that this is a fair system? Sinn Féin is asking all of those who have claimed in the past to be opposed to such an unjust flat tax and those who campaigned on a platform of change during the general election to remember the promises they made to the electorate and support this motion to abolish the universal social charge. People simply cannot cope any more.

The Government cannot expect the poorest people to continue to pay for the economic catastrophe. One could not be criticised for describing the universal social charge as an indiscriminate mechanism of punishment for being poor. The Government should take heed of the democratic programme of the first Dáil to "secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing and shelter and that all shall be provided with the means and facilities requisite for their proper education and training".

This would be far more meaningful and appropriate than vague aspirational commitments to review the universal social charge in the current programme for Government, followed by commitments to maintain the current rate of income tax together with bands and credits. The difference between the meaning of the words "review" and "abolish" is not lost on people. People cannot feed their children or pay their bills, their mortgages or their rent. They are going without food to pay for school books.

I have heard from people in my constituency who are going without so that they can put €20 aside each week out of an already meagre income in order that they can eventually have enough money to emigrate. Ordinary working families who have less should pay less. The Exchequer deficit will not be closed by continuing the inequitable imposition of the universal social charge. Toxic banks should not be saved while people are being sentenced to lifetimes of poverty by a Government which is neglecting them.

It is not good enough that the Labour Party and Fine Gael Deputies made no secret of their opposition to the universal social charge but now that they have their ministerial cars are refusing to get rid of it. I agreed with the analysis of the universal social charge by my Cork East constituency colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Deputy Sean Sherlock, who during the last Dáil described the tax as "woefully inadequate and inequitable" and a measure that "must be opposed". I still share that analysis.

The universal social charge has not changed. It is for this reason that I am calling on all of the Deputies who still oppose measures that reduce the pay of those already on low incomes to support the Sinn Féin Private Members' motion to abolish the universal social charge.

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