Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate what the Minister is saying. Obviously, the Government is still committed to an austerity budget next year that will take €2 billion out of the economy. Perhaps it is the fact that we are facing into the local and European elections in a couple of months but somewhere in the middle of that, the Minister has found it within himself to announce that he wants to increase the threshold. Sinn Féin acknowledges that the threshold here is low compared to other countries but one must also look at the effective tax rate that is paid here compared to other countries for a person earning €40,000 or €50,000 where one sees a different scale.

The Minister will have seen from our alternative budget that Sinn Féin is very clear that we should have a tax reduction for low and middle-income families. We believe the best way to do this is through abolishing the household charge and giving people, on average, €278 back. The Minister will be well aware that increasing the threshold by €1,000 would cost the State €150 million, that 15% of the benefit of that would go to those earning above €100,000 and that 1.1 million taxpayers will get no benefit from increasing the threshold. Why do the Minister and his colleagues in the Labour Party believe that this is the best and most effective way to lift the burden from vulnerable low and middle-income families?

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