Report: EU fails to ease effects of austerity

Austerity may improve the look of government balance sheets but it continues to create poverty, and EU policies have failed to improve the wellbeing of millions of people, a report by Social Justice Ireland concludes.

It also makes a case for a greater tax take by the state, showing that countries such as Ireland with the lowest overall tax were worst hit by the economic crisis and have the greatest inequality and poverty levels.

It says that claims that higher tax make a country uncompetitive are not borne out by the facts as many with high tax are the world’s most competitive.