High earners must bear financial pain, says SF

HIGH earners must be forced to bear extra financial pain in order to ease the suffering of the vulnerable in society, Sinn Féin has insisted.

Unveiling its pre-budget proposals, the party said austerity was not working and that a €7 billion stimulus package was the only way to “shock” the economy back to life.

The universal social charge should be abolished with the gap in government resources filled by a 48% tax rate on those earning €100,000 or more, said the party’s finance spokesman, Pearse Doherty.