Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

I second the Government's amendment to the motion. I would like to begin by acknowledging that nobody wants to pay tax. In particular, nobody wants to pay higher rates of tax. We do not want to find ourselves in a situation where we are asking people to pay more tax at a time when they have less money. If we look at what our economy has gone through, there are two points that are pertinent to our debate this evening. The first point is that since 2007, the national income has declined by 19%. Across the same time period, the tax take in our economy has declined by 33%. The rate and the amount of tax revenue coming into our economy is declining at a far faster pace than the economy itself is declining. That is related to the fact that until the middle of 2010, about one in two people did not pay any income tax. If we want to make our State secure, make it sovereign, and to ensure that the aspirations of the first Dáil are delivered this year, we must find a way for the income raised in this country pays for the expenditure that goes out. While that does not happen, there remains the core of our fiscal bankruptcy and the core of the political bankruptcy that we are also enduring.

Before any cost of banking recapitalisation is endured, the deficit for this year is €14.5 billion. The continuation on that path for the State will mean that the ordinary people that I represent will suffer the most, such as the working poor, the poor who are not working and everybody in between.

In his contribution, the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, touched on one figure that is at the core of the debate. The universal social charge will raise €3.3 billion this year, €4.1 billion next year, €4.3 billion in 2013, €4.5 in 2014. However, we continually hear Sinn Féin Deputies say that the universal social charge is bringing in €400 million. Deputy Adams claimed this on the floor when I was seated, but the reality is that it is bringing in tenfold that amount.

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