Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)

Every year, we outline in our budget submission how this can be done. We increase the revenue the State raises and broaden our tax base by going after the major corporations that pay very little tax. We take the burden off ordinary workers – those who are earning less than €100,000 – and introduce a millionaire’s tax. We have a high-income social charge and increased rates of income tax. We ensure that corporations actually pay their taxes and increase the rate of corporation tax. It can be done. It is just a political choice.

Deputy Chambers has only just become the Minister for Finance, so this is not on him, but does he accept that it is fundamentally dishonest to use a crisis to introduce a new tax while letting everyone believe it is to be a temporary emergency measure only to then say it will be kept because it is a very good measure for raising revenue? I warn him that this will be an issue in the coming general election. It arose time and again during the local and European elections. People still hate this tax and they know it was meant to be temporary. They want to see it gone and the Government will pay a political price if it does not accede to that.

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