Religious body urges 1% income tax rise to fight poverty

TOO-LOW tax rates are leading to poverty and are the cause of many of the country’s social and economic ills, a religious body said yesterday.

The accusation was made by the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) at its annual conference. It claimed that the Government's low-tax policy had resulted in insufficient resources being used to tackle poverty.

ICTU general secretary David Begg supported the claims, stating that overall tax revenues were inadequate to fund necessary public services.