Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the survey published by my Department which states specifically that the particular models used are based on a model called Switch. It was not possible to take into account certain changes and this has been acknowledged. It is a comparison of social welfare and tax measures. Tax measures help people who are in work and who are liable to pay tax. Deputy O'Dea will have read the survey and he will know that it shows the impact of the USC reduction is significantly greater for everyone except the top quintile or the top 20% in the Department's survey. We focused on lifting 80,000 people out of the USC and on lowering the two USC entry rates. People earning more than €70,000 a year and €100,000 a year, paid a higher rate of USC to compensate for the reductions for those on lower incomes. This is all set out and people are aware of those changes. Those who earn €10,000 a year had previously paid the USC but now they will not pay the USC until they earn over €12,000 a year.

See this speech in context