Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the commitment, though vague, to the removal of the PAYE tax credit for very high earners and other measures to ensure the tax system remains fair and progressive. The Labour Party put forward precisely such a detailed plan in the election, built around the principles of ensuring more take-home pay for low-income workers while ensuring high-income earners continued to pay their fair share. In the context of the revelations from Panama about tax avoidance, tax evasion and what seems to be downright wholesale corruption, the issues of tax justice are even more important than ever.

None the less, while there are some welcome commitments in the foundation document, it does not go far enough on other issues such as the living wage, housing, health care, class sizes and important social issues such as the Eighth Amendment.

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