December's budget must increase the lowest rates of social welfare by €17 a week, increase taxes, substantially increase spending on community healthcare and make tax-credits refundable, Cori's Justice Commission will say today.
In its pre-budget submission, being published today, Cori says Ireland's population will increase by 1.5 million over the next 25 years, highlighting "the scale of the challenge facing Ireland in the coming years". It says most Irish people would like to see a fair and just society.
"Budget 2005 marked a step in the right direction," says Fr Seán Healy, director of the commission. "All the proposals [ in today's submission] are made within a responsible fiscal stance."
The budget's priority, in terms of tackling the situation of those 900,000 people living in poverty, must be increases in the lowest social welfare rates. "It is sometimes easy to overlook the sheer scale of Ireland's poverty problem," says Fr Healy.
While he welcomed some steps taken by Brian Cowen in his first budget last year, it "widened the rich-poor gap by another €30.93 a week".
The National Anti-Poverty Strategy set 2007 as the target date by which the lowest welfare rates would be equal to 30 per cent of the average industrial wage. This would mean lowest rates would be €185.80 a week in 2007. If this is to be achieved, that must be raised by €17 in this budget and by €20 in 2007.
Fr Healy says small tax increases "are certainly feasible and are unlikely to have any significant negative impact on the economy".
In the EU, only Lithuania collects less tax as a percentage of gross domestic product than Ireland, he says. Increasing the tax take could be achieved with an increase in corporation tax from 12.5 to 17.5 per cent; an increase in capital gains tax; an increase in tax on wealth; an increase on tax from property, eg through a land rent tax and the introduction of "the promised" carbon tax.
The commission continues: "If Ireland is to have an equitable income tax system and address the issue of the 'working poor' . . . tax credits should be made refundable and tax credits should be increased."
