Cowen: Budget targets spending cuts not tax hikes

SPENDING cuts will represent the brunt of the looming budget pain rather than tax hikes, the Taoiseach warned yesterday.

Refusing to say if the Government will take more than €5 billion out of the ailing economy on December 7, Brian Cowen dismissed opposition fears that the huge scale of the emergency financial measures has been dictated by the EU.

Fine Gael finance spokes- man Michael Noonan used a Dáil debate on the economic crisis to attack government claims that €15bn needed to be found in tax rises and Exchequer savings over the next four years to reduce the deficit to EU approved levels.