McCreevy warns against targeting rich for tax hikes

FORMER Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy warned against governments raising taxes and targeting the rich in an effort to balance their budgets.

He also said that countries that bailed out banks should recover their capital from them as quickly as possible to allow them reduce debt levels he described as having risen to alarming levels.

His advice comes just days before the current Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is due to unveil what is expected to be the country’s harshest ever budget, cutting €4 billion off public spending.