Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, to the Seanad. We have missed him on this side of the House in the past year. Nonetheless, we are delighted he was elected to the Dáil from his constituency. We knew he would be in the Government and I want to commend him for his excellent work.

In the budget debate of 1983, the former Deputy Alan Dukes stated:

Viewed in the context of the total requirement to finance the State's activities, an extra levy of this kind cannot be regarded as a huge change in taxation or as something that will make a very big difference to the overall spread of the burden taxation. I am, therefore, introducing a temporary 1 per cent levy on income. It will apply to the same income categories and will be collected in the same manner as the youth employment levy introduced last year. This should yield £47 million in 1983 and about £80 million in a full year.

I voted against it.