Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

What is the cost of this proposal and where does it stand in the context of the efforts over recent years for the burden of taxation to be spread? Some 5% of income earners pay approximately half of the income tax take and 40% of income earners were outside the tax net. The universal social charge made inroads into that because it brought people on very low incomes within the net, which comes at great cost to the people concerned.

While we would like to see the exemption thresholds increased significantly, does the Minister intend to revisit the review of the universal social charge on an annual basis when preparing the budget? Does the change in the Finance Bill, which is welcome, represent the entirety of the Government's proposed changes to the universal social charge on foot of the review?

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