Higher tax for business and rich ‘will improve services’

TAX rates for business and wealthy people should be increased to pay for better public services and infrastructure, the leader of the country’s biggest public sector union urged yesterday.

IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone claimed Ireland could not pay for European-standard services and infrastructure while continuing to cut the overall tax take.

“Any further tax reform must take more from the businesses and individuals who can afford to pay, so that we can provide quality services for those who can’t,” he told the ICTU conference.

While we were now a low tax regime, he felt there was still scope for further tax reform to redistribute wealth to those on low and middle incomes.

Mr McLoone said we had the lowest corporate tax in the EU and, among European workers earning more than €35,000 per year, only the Dutch and British paid less personal income tax.

“But this comes at a price. The thousands of people waiting for a hospital bed, a speech therapist, or a psychologist, are paying the price,” he went on.

“Children who, literally, have the school ceiling coming down on them are paying the price. The vulnerable young people whose preventative anti-drugs service is coming under the axe are paying the price.”

The IMPACT motion called on the ICTU executive to oppose further reductions in the overall tax take and to promote policies that protected the living standards of workers and improved services.

Con Scanlon, of the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) expressed concern about the power of regulators that could have long-term social and economic effects.

Disputing a regulator’s claim that Eircom was 60% inefficient, he said there was no scientific basis for such a view and no evidence offered except selective comparisons that took no account of differences in population and economies.

“To satisfy the regulator, we must shed 60% of costs. This despite the fact that we are one of the cheapest in the EU for many of our services, and it ignores the massive reduction in staff from 18,000 to 9,000 in the last 10 years.”

Mr Scanlon further claimed that Ireland would be the poor relation in Europe in regard to broadband and communications services generally “unless our political masters wake up.”