Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to welcome the Minister of State and to take the opportunity to share my thoughts on some of the issues on which we should focus in the upcoming budget. First, however, I would like to address some of the points made by the Opposition in the past few minutes.

It is nice to hear indirect taxation actually described as indirect taxation. The use of the politicised term "stealth tax" is not fair. It creates a situation where people believe their money is being stolen from them. If we pay more VAT or more money to the Passport Office, we are paying indirect taxation. We need to stand up and say that. No one should be ashamed to say there is indirect taxation in this country. There is nothing wrong with it. We have a low tax base in terms of corporation and capital gains tax, of which we are proud. A significant percentage of people are outside the income tax net. There is a 20% standard income tax rate and a 42% higher tax rate, of which we are proud. These are the building blocks and the foundation for the success of the economy. There is nothing wrong with indirect taxation. People are now going on holidays three of four times a year. These people are buying passports at whatever cost. There was a time when people leaving the country had to pay €5 tax. This is no longer the case, but if it were, we would make a fortune because people are going on holidays several times a year.