Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I support the amendment. On a moral level, it is unacceptable that the universal social charge was imposed on people earning the minimum wage or lower. The Government acknowledged the injustice at some level of hitting low-income earners by exempting the lowest income earners from the universal social charge but leaving people on the minimum wage and lower paying this punitive austerity tax is unacceptable. The universal social charge on low and middle income earners should go completely because it is damaging and unfair in the extreme. It is one of the major contributory factors to depressing consumer demand and its damaging consequences.

I do not understand why the Government refuses to look elsewhere, at high income earners, and impose higher taxes on them. We never get a straight answer. United Left Alliance proposed that people earning over €100,000 would pay 50% tax, those earning over €150,000 would pay 60% tax and those earning over €200,000 would pay 70% tax. In answer to a parliamentary question, the Minister acknowledged this would raise €1.1 billion. Is it not fair to do that and to impose higher taxes on those who can afford it? Would it not be economically far more sensible? If one earns in excess of €100,000, unless one lives a very lavish lifestyle, one does not spend it all. People can save it and in our case it is not going to the economy. We all accept the need to increase spending rather than the amount of money sitting on deposit. I do not see the rationale for not giving significant relief to people who have been hit with austerity taxes at the low and middle end while resolutely refusing to impose higher taxes on those who can afford them.

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