Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My biggest difficulty with the Finance Bill and the budget is the lack of vision. The budget was supposed to be about rebuilding our reputation and saving us from economic ruin and so forth, but the question remains, at what cost? The Government claims that it wants to rebuild a successful economy, but for whom and at what price? The budget represents a missed opportunity. I noted some media comments to the effect that there had been a muted response from the public to the budget and that it had not really negatively affected the Government. However, much of the pain people will suffer will only hit them in January, although some of it is already on the horizon in the context of the local property tax.

I agree with previous speakers who argued that the people the budget would hurt the most were the most vulnerable in society. Some of the vulnerable people to whom I am referring are in employment and trying to maintain their jobs. They are coming to Sinn Féin advice centres and talking to us on the streets about the difficulties they are facing.

I am not exaggerating when I say I have never met so many men and women who have cried in my company because of the difficulties they are facing in their lives. If one talks to other public representatives, one will hear of a desperation out there among people who feel they have been left down. They are also desperate because after working every hour that God made, at the end of the week they look at their pay packet but still cannot pay their bills. One hears about genuine hardship on television and radio programmes. People are now frightened of the arrival of the postman because they do not know what will come in the next bill or how they will pay it. People are desperate with the thought of Christmas coming down the track and how they can fork out for their children’s presents or have a happy Christmas. I have heard the stories - it is not just the Joe Duffy show that people are phoning up - about people going to bed early at night time to save money on fuel. It is an awful indictment of society that there is nothing to look forward to for those getting on in their years.

Yesterday, during statements on the recent European Council meeting, Members referred to the positive attitude across Europe with unemployment dropping and so forth. What about the thousands leaving this country every week? Unemployment is down due to people heading abroad because they have no hope or belief that the economy has turned the corner. In my constituency, there is no real evidence of the green shoots of recovery to which every Government Member refers. I am also at a loss as to where all these talked about jobs are being created. It is not happening in many areas.

The big growth area that people talk about in my constituency relates to the number of people involved in illegal drugs. Parts of my constituency are a bit like “The Wire” as are probably parts of the Minister’s. It has been noted there are more people with expensive lifestyles, driving around in big cars, buying up shops and so on all because of illegal drugs. At the same time, ordinary decent people are caught in this trap of no hope that society has created for them.

The Government tells us we need this type of finance Bill which basically implements the austerity-laden budget 2014, as we have no alternatives. Government speakers claim its hands are tied and it is all Fianna Fáil’s fault. While Fianna Fáil must share the blame for the destruction of our economy and for bankrupting this State, the Government still has choices. It could have lifted the tax burden off families, protected jobs and protected our public services. This would have helped narrow the deficit without inflicting more damage on our economy and our people.

Sinn Féin detailed in its fully costed pre-budget submission how some of the hardest cuts could have been reversed and the deficit reduced through fair taxes, job stimulus measures and a range of savings. Civil society and community organisations also sent in their budget submissions and highlighted again the many alternatives the Government could have taken. However, we know to our cost, it refused to consider any alternatives. Instead, the Government continues to follow its anti-growth, anti-worker and anti-family policies. It continues to implement its own extreme brand of economics of attacking the workers while supporting the lifestyles of former politicians, as well as those of the wealthy speculators and individuals who caused the crash. People often ask me why these individuals are rewarded while they are left with an unfair burden.

One of the cruellest parts of the budget was the cutting of the single parent tax credit and its replacement by a credit available only to one carer. According to the last census, there are 217,000 children of separated parents living in this State and this tax cut has elicited a significant amount of anger and opposition from citizens. My full-time office in Tallaght has been flooded with desperate messages from hard-pressed and struggling single parents who are working as hard as they can to provide for their children. They now have real and genuine concerns that they will no longer be able to do so when this cut rips the financial heart out of the family.

In terms of the financial effects of the proposed change, the measure is wholly disproportionate and wrong. The credit itself amounts to €1,650 per annum. When one adds the additional impact caused by its removal in the tax bands, the proposal amounts to the biggest single income cut on any one section of society in recent years. Research from Trinity College Dublin indicates that in 97% of separation cases in the State, the courts deem the child’s mother to be the primary carer, even in cases of 50:50 access. Accordingly, single fathers are the primary group in society who will have their pay slashed and will see an increase in their income tax, a measure this Government claimed would not happen to anyone. The measure also goes against the trend we have been trying to encourage of getting fathers in single-parent families to become more involved in them. The implications of the cut has the real potential to lead to a reduction in the level of maintenance payments, as well as a reduction in the quality and quantity of time that children will be able to spend with both their parents. It is completely illogical and wrong.

Who does this tax cut benefit? This measure will not only have financial ramifications but also a considerable social impact. It will only contribute to further undermining the social standing of separated parents in our society. This move sends out a message to separated fathers in particular that their care-giving is not equally respected by the State. This an unacceptable message for the Government to send out and can be viewed as favouring one parent over another. An affected parent told me in a message:

It is already offensive enough for loving and caring parents to be deemed a ‘secondary’ carer. To have formal fiscal recognition of this role removed in entirety is akin to the Department of Finance declaring that only one parent matters in cases of separation. This is both degrading and unfair.

This is a regressive move which ultimately will affect the children of separated parents most. It is out of tune with the needs of modern Ireland. It is an unfair cut and elected representatives should be joining Sinn Féin in opposing it.

The property tax, or family home tax, is another of the most painful and unfair austerity measures this Government has introduced. Families across the country are wondering how they will be able to afford it. Only this week, we saw how poorly planned the tax was. The property tax is a crude revenue-raising exercise, tarted up as something else. We know that not one cent of the €250 million raised through it already has gone back into local authority areas, again another broken promise.

The property tax is also being used to facilitate the establishment of another new water tax affecting already hard-pressed families and individuals. There has also been widespread confusion and concern about letters sent to households about paying next year’s property tax. The system make no sense as some compliant taxpayers are being asked to fork out a year and a half's payment long before it is due to be paid. The system also penalises anyone who is not computer-literate, those who do not have bank accounts and homeowners who lack the financial resources to pay their home tax in one payment.

I welcome the finance committee’s decision to discuss this regressive tax with the chairperson of the Revenue Commissioners, but the Government should be in the dock and not the people who are tasked with carrying out its legislative follies. Sinn Féin has repeatedly stated that we are opposed to this tax on family homes, and if we are in Government after the next election we will abolish this regressive tax. This would save 1.8 million homeowners an average of €278 each per annum, creating a €500 million stimulus for homeowners, who could in turn have the option of spending that money in their local economies.

The fact that some Deputies, Labour Party Deputies included, are calling the property tax some sort of wealth tax shows how out of touch they are with average citizens. A tax on the average family home is not a wealth tax. That is as dishonest as it is ridiculous. A wealth tax should target the most privileged individuals and their net wealth, and considering most people paying the property tax have mortgages on their homes, they cannot be considered net wealth. Sinn Féin has drafted legislation for a genuine wealth tax. This would have introduced a new third rate of tax of 48% on income earned in excess of €100,000 and a 1% tax on net wealth assets over €1 million. This has the potential to raise as much as €800 million. The Government’s refusal to consider a real wealth tax shows where its political priorities lie.

I welcome the decision to tax online betting. I have called for this in the past, as it is becoming too easy for people with gambling addictions to throw away their family or individual incomes. We could all tell stories about the difficulties people have got into with gambling. One cannot go into a pub where there is not a gambling machine, and this is unwelcome. There were many attempts in this city and across Ireland to stop the so-called one-armed bandits, but the poker machines have replaced them. We have all seen people putting their entire wages into them. Sinn Féin would go further. We would like a 3% tax on betting in shops and a 15% gross profit tax on online bookies. There is a need to introduce the Betting (Amendment) Bill as soon as possible to bring remote bookies and betting exchanges into the Irish tax net. We also need to regulate the promotion of gambling. The expensive, flash advertisements never show or explain how gambling addictions have destroyed families and lives. I would like some money to be ring-fenced for this. I talked to one mother whose son is addicted to gambling and she said she saw an advertisement on RTE for an addiction counselling service followed seconds later by an advertisement for a well-known bookie. There is no talk about the impact this can have in society. We talk about the impact of tobacco and alcohol advertising and I do not see why we could not have similar legislation for gambling advertising.

Other speakers talked about the effect of drink in society, and budgets can bring in positive measures on this. There was talk about the lack of taxation in this area, and Sinn Féin has proposed a lid tax to combat below-cost selling, for example of slabs of drink. The Minister said this could not be done, but we need to devise imaginative ideas to tackle the impact this is having on society.

This Finance Bill is a missed opportunity and the people who will suffer as a result are those who have been suffering over the last number of years - those on low and middle incomes. We are already seeing the impact this budget is having across our society, with people terrified of the postman coming to their doors with bills. The Government has choices. It could have adopted a much fairer, more acceptable budget, but it has taxed the usual suspects - those who are in employment, trying to maintain a job. Families and children will suffer. I am sad to say that while I would have liked to support elements of the budget, in the main it will hurt society. There is no vision or hope built into this Finance Bill for the 1,000 people who are leaving Ireland every week. This Finance Bill is a missed opportunity that will benefit the well off and increase the burden on low- and middle-income taxpayers.

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