Responding to the Commission on Taxation report released last week, Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson Arthur Morgan TD said the report is deeply flawed.
Instead of making the tax system fairer, the majority of the recommendations would put further pressure on ordinary householders, according to Morgan.
“This report unfairly targets households, as does the McCarthy report, to pay for the government’s mismanagement of the economy,” he commented. “It is not a restructuring of the tax system based on fairness – it is an attempt to squeeze even further ordinary people struggling to make ends meet.”
The Sinn Féin TD referred to the terms of reference for the report as “laughable”, saying that it ignored “the gaping hole” in public finances.
“We have one of the fastest growing deficits in Europe. We cannot keep the overall tax take low, unless we are prepared to completely sacrifice all our public expenditure on services like health and education.”
Morgan added: “The government has showed with Nama, An Bord Snip and now the Commission on Taxation report that it is using the economic crisis to further its own agenda of creating a system where lower and middle income earners are ripped off by the State.
“We need a restructuring of our tax system to make it progressive while ensuring a sustainable base. Sinn Féin will not stand by while this Government tries to make the majority pay for the minority’s greed.”
