Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a good deal of agreement on the section, and I agree with the Minister of State about the tax burden. People are concerned about the amount of money left in their pockets to pay their bills and meet family commitments. At the current cut-off point of €32,800, the top rate of tax is stultifying and crippling. The Leader said we were moving to a cut-off point of €33,800, which is a modest increase. This needs to be raised substantially. I accept that the top rate of 41% will drop to 40%, but adding on USC and PRSI means it works out at 52% or 53%, which is huge.

We should also be thinking of our greatest human resource, our young graduates, whom we are losing. What will we offer them to bring them back? We should offer them attractive tax rates. France is known for its redistribution of tax, and there, the top rate does not kick in until €70,000. In the UK, the top rate applies at the equivalent of €150,000, and in Germany, the country that is running us all and that owes us for saving the entire European banking system, it does not kick in until €225,000. Who is having this debate with the Germans and the French? We have full control of our fiscal policy, but at the same time, this is the price we are paying for the recovery and for salvaging the entire European banking system. We are paying it in our punitive tax rates.

The Houses of the Oireachtas have not yet passed the Finance Bill, and the measures in the 2015 budget are not yet in law. I was a Member on the Government side and I have a difficulty with the fact that the Government is talking about lower taxes. If the Government is serious about it, let us have a mini-budget in the spring and bring in lower taxes. If we can put more money into people's pockets, we will improve the economy up and down the country. We must be on the right side of the curve for me to ask for that, because there is an important tipping point.

In the last quarter the Government took in €1.7 billion extra that the Minister did not expect to receive. I am not talking about a giveaway, with which I would not agree, as I do not agree with auction politics, but I do agree with helping the people of the nation to get a little confidence back in order that they would be able to say, "We paid the price, now the Government of this country is coming with us. They understand the price we paid."

I am sticking to the point on income tax. Recently I spoke to two young entrepreneurs who told me that the effective tax rate was about 45%. The Minister of State might clarify the figure. They said that, as entrepreneurs, the employer's rate of PRSI was bad and that capitals gains tax rate was completely unacceptable. One of them, a young software entrepreneur businesswoman who was in Leinster House to meet me and others, said that if she was to sell her business, she would move to the North of Ireland to reinvest. She would not reinvest here if she had to pay at a rate of 33%. On top of this, the effective tax rate on her income was 45% or almost half of her income. We must consider employers on whom we are relying to hire people to give them back hope, attract back graduates, keep money in the country and grow the economy. I would like the Minister of State to give a timeframe to show that the Government is really serious about reducing these taxes, particularly the top rate of rate, about which he was talking. Is there any will in the Government to bring forward a mini-budget?