Another Budget For The Rich – Healy

Budget Statement By Seamus Healy TD   087-2802199

In my Dáil Statement( In Full Below) I said:” This is the fifth budget in a row for the rich and powerful in our society. The USC package gives the top 5% of earners, 110,000 individuals earning over €180,000, an additional €922, costing the Exchequer almost €100 million or nearly twice what they were given last year. In contrast a low-paid worker on €18,000 gets a paltry €124 per year and someone on €25,000 gets a paltry €247 a year. An old age pensioner will get €3 a week or €156 a year, about one sixth of what a person on €180,000 is getting.”

And households, even the most needy, will be required to pay water charges and LPT on their homes.

Minister Noonan, in an RTE interview, attempted to imply that the giveaway to the richest and the paltry concessions to those on low and middle incomes was an inevitable consequence of the tax system itself. This is entirely untrue. In its budget submission, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions gave the Minister a mechanism through which a tax giveaway to the very rich could have been avoided. The ICTU formula of a special USC tax credit for thoseindividuals earning less than 70,400( 140,800 for a  couple) would have given much needed relief to those on low and middle incomes without wasting resources on the very rich.

Already Social Justice Ireland and Fr Sean Healy had advocated a similar tax credit policy and pointed out that the poorest 10% are paying a higher proportion of their own income in tax than the richest 10%. This budget will make this situation worse.

The tax policy to be implemented in the budget is a studied and deliberate plan to benefit the rich. Minister Noonan in his speech made it clear that this is just a first step. He promised if re-elected to give further tax relief to the rich by reducing the marginal tax rate for those on the highest incomes by 2%. This would give over 100 million to the top 10,000 on average incomes of 595,000Euro  per year or over  10,000 per week each and hundreds of millions to the top 5%.

Small Increase in Funding for Housing, Health and Education is totally inadequate to reverse the deep cuts implemented by this and the previous government.

The demands of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, the second level unions and the educational community in general have again not been met in the budget. Obviously, any reduction in class sizes will be helpful but at 27:1 ratio at primary level, it is still far too high and not good enough. There is no increase in the funding for capitation to schools and Youthreach centres. There is no restoration of vital assistant principal posts and ex-quota guidance counsellors and additional supports for principals. No provision has been made for hours allowances for teaching principals to do administration work.

These measures are all absolutely essential if our young people are to get a good quality education.

The Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, seems to have conveniently forgotten the facts in the health area. We lost 11,000 staff and €4 billion during the course of the recession. The restoration of cuts in this budget is minimal and our health service will remain totally inadequate as our nurses are pointing out every day.

Seamus Healy TD     087-2802199.