Opposition claim raft of stealth taxes will deepen recession
They attacked the measures outlined by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan as a “missed opportunity” as Fine Gael claimed every household had been hit by a €2,450 tax hike.
The party’s finance spokesperson Richard Bruton said Ireland was now in dangerous waters as no other country was raising taxes.
“The measures outlined by Mr Lenihan fail to address the fundamental challenge of reinventing our public service and the wider economy. Ireland is now following a highly dangerous path of being the only country in Europe to massively raise taxes at what looks to be the beginning of the worst recession in a generation.
“Mr Lenihan’s Finance Bill introduces or increases 17 taxes that will cost the average Irish family €2,450 in lost purchasing power in 2009, just as plummeting consumer confidence and spending is already dragging down the economy. And this comes on top of the extra €1,000 or so that the average family could pay in higher Government stealth charges — like university registration fees, school transport charges and public hospital charges.
“Mr Lenihan has completely ignored the fact that Ireland is in the grip of a credit famine. Does the Government really believe that businesses will be able to find the credit facilities to pay €240 million in extra overdraft interest charges to make these earlier payments to the State?” he said.
Labour’s finance spokesperson Joan Burton was equally scathing as she accused Mr Lenihan of failing to show leadership as she predicted another crisis budget within six months.
“If the dire predictions about the Irish economy are even partially fulfilled we may well see this bill superseded by a mini-budget sometime in the spring or summer of 2009.
“Governments around the world, from the UK, to China to the USA, are introducing fiscal stimulus packages to encourage spending and protect jobs.
“This Finance Bill has few if any identifiable measures which will support job creation or jump-start the economy,” she said.
Green finance spokesperson Senator Dan Boyle said the measures had gone a long way to restoring balance to the budget burden between rich and poor.
Mr Lenihan said the Government was committed to protecting the economy from the worst effects of the current international downturn and to ensuring our international competitiveness is maintained and enhanced.
The Finance Minister insisted the mix of measures in the bill struck “an appropriate balance between the need to protect those on low incomes and restore stability to the public finances, while at the same time providing targeted support to enterprise to assist in our recovery.”
