Increased taxes on a range of business interests and the wealthy have been sought by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in its pre-Budget submission, writes Chris Dooley.
It claimed the State is on "the wrong trajectory" to achieve a just society and argued that the policies which turned the economy around are no longer appropriate.
Over the past 15 years, the State had moved from having a high tax regime with a stagnant economy, to having one of the lowest tax bases and highest economic growth rates, the submission said.
However, what was effective during the "catch-up phase" was no longer meeting the needs of the people and of the economy to consolidate progress.
The overall level of tax revenue was not adequate to finance the public services needed.
A "serious initiative on childcare", investment in life-long learning, strategies to tackle child poverty and health service funding reforms are also sought in the 41-page document.
At the top of ICTU's wish list, however, is its demand for a "fairer tax system", which would involve widening the economy's tax base. At 12.5 per cent, the Republic's corporation tax rate was among the lowest in the OECD, while employers' PRSI was actually the lowest, according to the submission.
An increase in corporation tax, a "windfall tax" on profits arising from the re-zoning of land and a cessation of tax relief measures for the bloodstock industry are all sought in the document.
It also calls for a doubling in capital gains tax on land acquisitions to 40 per cent and for the artists' tax exemption to be re-examined.
This should be done with a view to re-structuring the exemption to assist "struggling artists", rather than millionaires and multi-millionaires, it says.
The document was presented yesterday to the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, by ICTU's general secretary, Mr David Begg.
It called for a review of policy towards business taxation and levies in the context of emerging EU policy to ensure that all sectors pay "a fair share, and that sectors such as the financial sector pay appropriate levels of tax on their profits".
There were many tax breaks available to wealthy people, which resulted in them paying tax at lower rates than those with much less income, the submission said.
A study by the Revenue Commissioners of the State's top 400 earners in the year 1999/2000 had found that 18 per cent of them had an effective tax rate of 15 per cent.
This compared to 20 per cent for the average PAYE worker. The lower rates paid by the better off were attributable to their availing of tax incentives, mainly property-based.
"Congress strongly believes that there is no longer any economic case for many tax incentives that were originally introduced in attempts to boost employment and economic activity at a time when income tax rates in Ireland were much higher."
