Tax cuts and hospital beds key aspects of the Labour manifesto

LABOUR has promised in its election manifesto to cut the standard rate of tax to 18%, reform stamp duty, provide 2,300 more hospital beds, and put more gardaí on the beat.

Launching the manifesto, entitled The Fair Society, party leader Pat Rabbitte said the commitments contained within were geared towards building “the kind of Ireland we would like to live in”.

But the crucial first step, he acknowledged, was maintaining Ireland’s economic growth.

“Above all, we want to maintain a prosperous, enterprising economy as the basis of making the improvements in our society that are detailed in this document,” he said.

Therefore, Mr Rabbitte, if voted into power, would not be proposing increases in either capital gains tax or corporation tax.

Significantly, there was also no mention in the manifesto of a wealth tax, which represents something of a gradual U-turn by Mr Rabbitte.

He had consistently ruled out raising income tax rates, going so far in 2005 as to dismiss the “Matt Talbots” (many of them within Labour) who argued that personal tax increases were the only true measure of a political party’s commitment to social justice.

But he made clear in 2003 and in 2005 that he favoured the idea of a wealth tax, to be levied in areas where massive wealth was generated such as land speculation and the bloodstock industry.

That idea has since been pragmatically abandoned, however, a necessary sacrifice to forge a shared economic approach with Fine Gael.

Yesterday, Mr Rabbitte said Labour would concentrate on five priorities were it elected to office alongside Fine Gael. These are ensuring more beds in clean hospitals, providing a year’s free pre-school education for every child, putting more gardaí on the beat in neighbourhoods, abolishing the means test for carers and enabling more people to begin to buy a home.

But they were just some of a lengthy series of commitments in the manifesto.

Labour says it will cut the standard tax rate from 20% to 18%, and increase by €5,000 the threshold at which one-income families hit the higher tax rate. In addition, the party would establish a “taxpayer’s advocate” to ensure PAYE workers get the tax credits and reliefs they are entitled to.

It said it would “fix” the health service in a way that “delivers value for money and equality of access”.

This would include scrapping Health Minister Mary Harney’s plan to co-locate private hospitals on the grounds of public hospitals, and move towards universal health insurance.

On education, the party also promised to move progressively towards capping class sizes at 25:1 in mainstream primary schools and 15:1 in disadvantaged schools.

Among its environmental commitments, the party said it would introduce a legal right to clean, potable water, adding that local authorities which failed to produce this would face sanctions.

LABOUR COMMITMENTS:

Reducing the standard tax rate from 20% to 18%

Increasing by €5,000 the level at which one-income families hit the higher rate of tax

Abolishing fees for part-time undergraduate courses for those who have not already got a degree

Introducing two weeks’ paid annual training leave, financed by the State

2,300 more hospital beds

Free health insurance for all under-16s

Gradually move towards universal health insurance

Triple the number of community gardaí to 1,500

Pass civil union bill for gay couples

Increase the amount of Dáil sitting days by 50%