Seanad debates

Wednesday, 6 December 2017

Finance Bill 2017: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Rose Conway WalshRose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This section provides for cuts to the universal social charge, USC, and income tax that amount to €335 million. These are being made at a time when we have a housing emergency and a health service that is creaking at the seams. These are political decisions and many people are quite gobsmacked by them. The national newspapers have repeatedly covered the concerns regarding multinationals in Ireland. They do not discuss tax, but rather the housing supply and the quality of life here. This focus on tax, especially on the marginal rate, is a smokescreen. One only has to look at the Paradise Papers to see that the super-rich will try to avoid paying any tax. Does the Minister of State accept that Ireland is a low-tax country? Does he accept that the greatest threats to our economy are infrastructure issues and that the greatest contributor to our regional imbalances is the lack of investment in the regions and in rural Ireland? It is not a marginal tax rate.

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