Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

Budget 2020 and the Finance Bill are the structure, framework or scaffolding, if one wishes, that creates, continues and supports a deeply unequal society in this country. What we have in them is socially unfair and socially divisive and deliberately increases the rich-poor divide in our society. Even the ESRI has described the budget as regressive, which is something unusual for the ESRI. It means that the budget and the Bill discriminate against middle-income and low-income families and social welfare recipients. Social Justice Ireland is even more scathing in its analysis of the budget.

The provisions of a Bill often show what the Government of the day supports, but what is not contained in a Bill can also be informative. The main element that is not in this Bill is a wealth tax. There is absolutely no such tax. Very wealthy people in this country get off scot free. Ireland is the eighth richest country in the world and Irish super rich individuals are "awash with money". We heard that phrase from a former Minister, Ms Mary Harney, a long time ago. They were awash with money then and still are today. They have made billions of euro from the crash and the selective recovery. The Minister for Finance has not taken a ha'penny in tax from their obscene wealth.

Almost 4,000 children are being irreparably damaged in their formative years in emergency accommodation in this country, which has the fifth largest number of ultra wealthy individuals per capitain the world according to a recent study.

A total of 2,055 super-rich people in the State have wealth in excess of $30 million each. They do not pay a ha'penny tax on that. The study shows there are 421 super-rich individuals per 1 million adults in the State. That puts us ahead of countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan. The only places ahead of us are tax havens like Hong Kong, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Singapore. We also know from the study that the top 10% of wealthy individuals in this country own 58.4% of all wealth; the top 5% own 46.4% of all wealth; and the top 1% own 27.3% of all wealth. The economist, David McWilliams, wrote in The Irish Times: "Imagine we decided to introduce a sliding wealth tax of between 0.5 per cent and 5 per cent on wealth, on the top 1 per cent". We would, he said, take in a minimum of €2 billion and a maximum of €20 billion by charging 5% on the top 5%. These are large sums of money and it would be a significant tax but the Government does not have a policy of taxing wealth. It taxes the ordinary middle and low income persons, and even social welfare recipients, but it refuses to tax people who are extremely wealthy.

The SARP costs €28 million. In 2017, a total of 1,084 persons availed of the scheme, 31 of whom were millionaires. Individuals gained up to €130,000. The banks that we bailed out, which now make huge profits, pay no tax but the ordinary individual - the middle class person, low-income families and social welfare recipients - is forced to bear the burden of taxation in this country. On the other hand, we know that life on low income is the norm for large numbers of people in Irish society. CSO data tell us that 760,000 people live below the poverty line, including one in every five or approximately 230,000 children in the State. Likewise, some 110,000 people who work live below the poverty line. In spite of that, people with huge wealth pay no wealth tax. We have a society that is divided straight down the middle. It is divided by deliberate Government policy, not just by this Government but by previous Governments as well.

The Bill, like the budget, makes no provision for indexation of tax bands and allowances, which means that PAYE workers will pay more tax next year. Social welfare recipients received no general increase, which means they will be less well off next year. That is at a time when very wealthy people simply do not pay their fair share, and are not asked to pay their fair share. That has to stop. This country is divided unequally and deliberately by the Government and previous Governments.

On climate action and carbon tax, the evidence is clear and irrefutable that climate is changing owing to human activity. The Government seemed to recognise that in declaring a climate emergency earlier this year, but it has proven that it is not to be trusted because it has taken no meaningful action to avert the crisis. What the Government has done is similar to its inaction in dealing with homelessness. It is cynical of the Government to declare a climate emergency and then to take no action whatsoever. There is no doubt its climate action plan lacks real credibility. Its decision to block further debate on the Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018 for the duration of this Dáil by invoking the money message procedure is an ill-founded and undemocratic abuse of parliamentary procedure.

We have arrived at a situation where in spite of both partners working, a couple cannot afford to buy or build a house. The formation of a family is generally a key tenet of sustainability. The Government's response to that state of affairs is to introduce a further tax, namely, a carbon tax. The carbon tax discriminates against low and middle income families and those living in rural areas where people have no alternative but to drive to work. Thousands of people in my constituency of Tipperary travel to neighbouring counties every day to work in places like Limerick, Shannon, Waterford, Dungarvan, Galway, Athlone, Carlow, Kilkenny and Cork city. Just as many travel to work within the county. People from outside the county also travel to work in the county. There is no alternative mode of transport for them. The carbon tax is a tax on ordinary workers who are trying to do an honest day's work and must travel by car as they have no alternative. The Government's answer to transport in Tipperary and right around the country has been to allow public transport, including the public bus service, to be cut. Many people travel to work from Carrick-on-Suir to Kilkenny. There is no public transport for them because the Government allowed the bus route to be closed. It has done the same right throughout the country. If there was a credible climate action plan, we would have significant public transport right across the country. We would have a network of public transport. We would not be cutting bus routes but putting new buses on new routes. We would be introducing more Local Link buses and upgrading the rail lines, for instance, the Limerick to Waterford rail line in my constituency, rather than having them always on the point of closure. We would put modern trams on the lines to bring people to work across the south of Ireland, from Limerick to Waterford.

10 o’clock

The carbon tax is simply a money-raising exercise. It does nothing for climate change or climate action. It penalises low and middle-income families and people who have to drive to work. The proposed increase in carbon tax by €6 per tonne, eventually to go to €80 per tonne, is simply unacceptable and it will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It will be like the water tax. The Government would do well to consider that situation.

The area of health is deeply distressing, especially mental health. I refer specifically to the situation in Tipperary, both north and south. The Fine Gael-Labour Party Government closed the acute psychiatric unit in Clonmel so now those people suffering from mental illness who require admission to-----

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