Building a fairer society - A never-ending social challenge

Social Justice Ireland yesterday suggested that the Government needs to increase taxes by €3bn to fund a fair and equal society. That would be a 6% increase on the €50.7bn collected last year, €13.1bn of which was paid as income tax.

Despite the lobby’s emphasis on new or higher taxes on corporations and rich individuals — anyone earning over €125,000, by their reckoning — no Irish Government would survive such an imposition.