Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What did the Government do? Let us take the case of John, one of the examples used in the book accompanying the budget. John, who is single and works full-time for the minimum wage, will gain €173 annually or €3.32 per week from this budget. This is what the end of austerity means for John. How would he fare if he was married with two children and his family had one income? Even taking into account the much-vaunted increase in child benefit, John and his little family would be better off each week to the tune of €6. The contrast between the benefit received by John and that received by the Taoiseach and other high earners is obvious.

The Government should have introduced a third tax rate of 48% on individual income in excess of €100,000 per annum. This would mean an additional tax of 7 cents in the euro on individual income, as opposed to joint earnings, of more than €100,000 per annum. That is what a fair Government would do and it is, in fact, what the Labour Party advocated once upon a time.

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