Use tax code to transfer wealth — not pension cuts

WHY is the Government going to such expense and administrative difficulty of means-testing all state pensioners in an attempt to find the small minority who have paid their stamps but who have other forms of income which make them wealthy? Surely the state has other mechanisms for redistributing wealth from the rich to the needy, regardless of whether they are aged 25 or 75. It is called income tax.

If the Government is genuine about protecting the most vulnerable pensioners and ensuring that scarce resources are targeted at those most in need, the tax system is the correct mechanism to use, rather than cutting the state pension. Why have they opted not to tax them, but to means-test every pensioner? Pensioners who have contacted Age Action in the wake of Minister Ó Cuiv’s comments last week were concerned that the previous time a government minister cited examples of High Court judges and millionaires, as the minister did last week, they were trying to justify the ending of the automatic entitlement to the over-70s medical card after the budget in October 2008.

The day Minister Mary Coughlan used the example of those high income pensioners during a Dáil debate, the income threshold for taking away cards was €280 a week. It was only after the losing the support of two TDs and widespread outrage by pensioners that this threshold was increased to €700 per week.

Despite Minister Ó Cuiv’s comments in the Irish Examiner that pensioners have remained “untouched” apart from losing the Christmas bonus last December, the most vulnerable of them have been hit repeatedly over the past 12 months. From the introduction of the carbon tax and the reduction of dental entitlements for medical card holders, to the introduction of the prescription charge and HSE plans to cut the home help service, it is the most vulnerable pensioners who have been hit.

Eamon Timmins

Head of Advocacy and Communication

Age Action

Lr Camden Street

Dublin 2