Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When it comes to the self-employed, this Government, along with the last Government, is guilty of rank hypocrisy. On the one hand, the State says to people that it wants them to be entrepreneurial and innovative, that it wants them to set up new companies, to take risks, and to employ people, and that they are the backbone of the economy.

We hear this all the time. When I came into politics four years ago we heard it all the time from the previous Government. They said they respected and admired entrepreneurs and the self employed, and that they should go for at. At the same time, the State, this and the previous Government, says it will tax the self employed at a higher rate than PAYE workers.

A self-employed person earning more than €100,000 pays 4% more tax than a PAYE worker, a self-employed person earning €50,000 pays 11% more and a self-employed person earning €15,000 pays nearly seven times more tax than a PAYE worker. As every Deputy knows, a self-employed person who has taken the risk and done what the State said, is afforded a fraction of the social protections a PAYE worker receives. We all know this because we are all trying to help self-employed people whose businesses have gone to the wall during the recession. It is hypocrisy. The State tells people to go out, set up businesses, take risks, invest their own money and try to employ people, but states, "By the way, we are going to tax you more and God help you if you fail". It is not good enough. There are 324,000 self employed people in the country, 100,000 of whom earn less than €50,000. The Government can introduce two policies within a matter of months. In the budget, it can equalise tax treatment, and in the Social Welfare Bill that accompanies the budget, it can equalise social protections.

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