McCreevy’s plans to hit vulnerable

FOLLOWING 18 months of stealth taxes, Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy is still dipping into the pockets of hard-pressed punters and taking their money.

In the run up to a Budget that promises to be the most draconian in years, yesterday’s estimates were laced with cutbacks and riddled with extra charges.

With the exception of public service employees, who take home €1.1 billion of the extra €1.9 billion under benchmarking, a deal appropriately likened to taking money from an ATM machine, most people are staring at another harsh year of belt-tightening as the balance of €800 million will quickly be swallowed up.