Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are following a taxation policy which we clearly stated during the election campaign and reaffirmed in the programme for Government. We think income tax is a tax on jobs, and if we were to identify one of the big problems in the country it is the level of employment. If one taxes something one gets less of it and if one relieves tax on something one gets more of it. We are not loading income tax. In any of the three budgets I introduced I did not increase the rates, bands or credits on income tax. This is our position on taxation. The Deputy seems to think anybody with an income of more than €100,000 is wealthy. It seems to be his definition of wealthy. He misunderstands what it is like in normal households. When the two incomes are taken together in a household with a teacher married to a garda, or a nurse married to a garda or teacher, the total is more than €100,000 but these people are not well off. They are struggling. They barely make ends meet. They barely get the children up in the morning and out to school, pay the bills, pay the mortgage and keep the car on the road. This is the position in many parts of rural Ireland. If the Deputy thinks a gross income of €100,000 for a couple is wealth he is not meeting real people.

See this speech in context