‘Crafty, cunning and flawed’ plan

By Michael O’Farrell, Political Reporter

Describing the Budget as “crafty, cunning and fundamentally flawed” Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton said the Government was trying to bury the legacy of former Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy.

“It is a Budget pretending to say sorry but the key test is will it really change people’s lives. Against that standard it will not succeed,” Mr Bruton said.

He was particularly critical of the changes to the tax bands, claiming those on the minimum wage, who were yesterday taken out of the tax bracket, will fall into it again next April when the minimum wage increases.

Mr Bruton said two years of stealth taxes meant Finance Minister Brian Cowen was now a Santa with “gifts that had been nicked from the same families in the last two years.”

Stealth taxes on utilities and services have increased by an average of €2,250 since May 2002, he added.

Labour finance spokesperson Joan Burton said, “There is nothing for carers; the bare minimum for children; a meagre share of our national prosperity for pensioners; nothing to alleviate the crisis in A##~amp;E; to put extra gardaí on the streets, or teachers in our schools. And the minister has shirked the job of confronting the vested interests that enjoy so many tax breaks.”

Green finance spokesman Dan Boyle said the Government had failed to seriously tackle social welfare cuts.

“The decision by the Minister for Finance Brian Cowen to kick to touch by seeking a ‘review’ of property-based and other questionable tax reliefs must be seen as one of the glaringly sore points,” he said.

Sinn Féin’s Arthur Morgan commented: “I’m saying well done to those voters who scared the living daylights out of this Government last summer,”

SIPTU president Jack O’Connor expressed disappointment at “an overly cautious” Budget, but said it “does not appear to have followed the pattern of previous Budgets” in redistributing wealth upwards.