Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The first rule of any tax should be the ability to pay. Some weeks ago I spoke to a man who is at breaking point. He has debts of some €20,000 arising from a collapsed business and a mortgage which was approximately €160,000 several years ago and on which he has been unable to make repayments. His business debts have increased to €30,000 while the mortgage has gone up to €190,000 as a result of his failure to make payments. When he purchased his home, which is in negative equity, he paid tens of thousands in stamp duty. He and his wife are unemployed and he has two children who are students. This individual is faced with a debt mountain which he has no prospect of clearing. Yet the Government's response to people like him is to impose yet another charge they cannot hope to pay on top of existing unsustainable debt.

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