Middle-class let down by USC plans
Gerry Adams’ party has thrown in several sweet-eners for voters among pledges in its election manifesto.
However, the election wishlist, while cautious, is evidently funded by keeping crude taxes in place and piling on a few new ones to pay for the promised spending spree.
Among the major differences in Sinn Féin’s proposals, compared to those of the other parties, is its refusal to offer the squeezed middle immediate relief by cutting the USC.
Instead, the party only wants to remove workers earning less than €19,572 from the USC net, benefiting 277,000 workers. The other three major parties have promised to go further and reduce USC for larger numbers, at least for those earning up to €72,000.
Sinn Féin’s USC tax cut would cost €97m. Labour’s USC cuts, for example, would require €2.6bn.
Clearly, Sinn Féin would have more to play around with in the kitty. This is evident in its promises on health, jobs, and big spending, outlined in the election manifesto yesterday.
Free GP care would be provided over the next five years, it says.
Overall, €3.3bn would go on healthcare, prescription charges would be abolished for everyone, and 6,000 additional frontline staff would be employed, including gardaí, nurses, and dentists.
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Some of this would be funded through a betting tax, a sugar tax, and more tax on tobacco.
Furthermore, the party has pledged to spend €5bn more than the government parties in capital spending projects up until 2021.
Sinn Féin also says the scrapping of water charges and property taxes for everyone was a “redline issue” for the party. These measures, of course, will appeal to many voters. In total, the removal of both charges would offer savings to the average homeowners of around €500 a year.
It can expect proposals such as cutting ministerial pay by 50% and reducing TDs’ salaries to go down well with voters, along with the promise of an annual holiday to mark the Easter Rising.
Elsewhere, it has promised to reinstate full welfare payments for under-26s and to increase allowances.
On the other hand, the party plans to strike at higher earners. A new tax of 7% would be rolled out on portions of an income over €100,000. Furthermore, a new PRSI charge of 15% would also be slapped on those same portions.
Sinn Féin left the door open on a wealth tax when launching its 57-page manifesto.
If the party succeeds in entering government, it claims it would examine a 1% tax on assets valued at over €1m. It claims the Department of Finance would not provide a likely cost of such a tax, and so the party has left the issue out of its manifesto.
Sinn Féin insisted all of its plans were fully costed.
