Political Quote: tax cut

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Showing posts with label tax cut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tax cut. Show all posts

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Labour leads; PDs follow

11:50 PM 0
The irony of McDowell complaining about Labour's proposed tax cut while he adopts it as his own will be lost on the Minister for Justice and the PDs.

They are right, everyone else is wrong. This is the siege mentality of the party which is now down to 1% in the polls. Everyone else is wrong, they have to be, otherwise why are the PDs so unloved, unwanted and rejected by the people?

Tonight the PDs showcased their tax cuts, yes they will keep the tax cuts for the better off and they will steal Labour's and they will bring in a €300 pension.

This is auction politics at its utter worst. McDowell the self-appointed guardian of good government practice and sound finances will give away anything and everything to stay in power as Tainiste.

Michael McDowell has sealed his party's fate tonight as he becomes the Jack Lynch of the PDs who will ruin the economy just to get back into government. For shame Michael, for shame!

Read more about it here.
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Monday, February 12, 2007

Labour's Tax cut can work

5:10 PM 16
In Saturday's speech, Pat Rabbitte made a dramatic move on tax committing Labour in Government to cut the standard rate of tax by 2% points in the first two years of Government.

For some years now, income tax in Ireland has been structured around two rates. The lower or ‘standard’ rate and the higher rate. In 2007, a single person will pay tax at 20% on income up to €34,000, and tax at 41% on income over €34,000.


In his Budget speech last December, Brian Cowen reduced the higher rate of tax from 42% to 41%. He promised that if returned to Government after the election, Fianna Fáil and the PDs would cut the higher rate again to 40%.


In his conference speech on February 10th, Pat Rabbitte stated that, rather than reducing the higher rate, Labour would cut the standard rate from 20% to 18%.


At present, cutting the top rate of tax only benefits taxpayers who earn more than €34,000 (single person) and those who earn most benefit most. When the standard rate is cut, all taxpayers benefit. Those on lower and middle incomes gain most, as a proportion of their incomes.


The average industrial wage at present is about €32,000. It is likely to rise to just under €34000 by the end of 2007. So it is clear that the FF/PD tax plan gives nothing to workers on or below the average industrial wage.


But the big question must be an we afford it?


The Government this year ran a surplus of €2265m – so they were €5,190 million better off than expected in the Budget for that year. It is a normal part of the Budget process to include a tax package, to a greater or lesser extent – the income tax package in Budget 2006 cost just over €1250 million. This makes the 2% cut readily affordable.
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