Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 12, line 29, to delete " "€10,036" " and substitute " "€17,000" ".

The purpose of this amendment is to remove all those earning the minimum wage from the universal social charge. When the Minister announced the removal of 300,000 low-paid workers from the USC net last December, Sinn Féin welcomed the move but called on the Minister to go further and to remove the 500,000 workers earning the minimum wage or less from this regressive tax. The arguments for doing so are compelling, the first of which is that it is the right thing to do. Equally importantly, it will benefit the economy overall because it will provide a significant boost to consumer spending. There are plenty of better ways to raise the same amount of revenue, such as raising the marginal rate of tax to 40% for very high earners. Doing so would have less of a negative impact on the economy than leaving up to 200,000 low-paid workers in the USC tax net.

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