Closing tax loopholes will benefit education

NOEL WHELAN claims that the flaw in Labour’s argument against a return to third level fees is that free fees means higher taxation (Irish Examiner, May 15). Labour, he says, assume the taxation pool has no withdrawal limits. Ultimately, he claims, our approach chokes enterprise. Instead, he says, fees can be used to provide better grants for the disadvantaged.

None of these arguments stands up. In fact, Ireland has the lowest tax take in the EU, and Fianna Fáil and the PDs have created multiple tax loopholes for the rich. Far from choking enterprise, countries who invest strongly in education, such as Finland, are well ahead of us in the latest competitiveness tables.

Spending on third level education is one of the best investments we can make. The suggestion that income from fees will be invested in educational disadvantage has no credibility from a government that ignored this issue while the exchequer was running massive surpluses, and is now cutting spending on educational disadvantage.

If the government really wants a contribution from the wealthy to spend on education, they could start by closing off the tax loopholes.

Senator Michael McCarthy,

47, Castle Street,

Dunmanway,

Co Cork.