IMPACT calls for tax hike to fund public services

The IMPACT trade union has called for tax rates to be raised to pay for public services.

According to the union general secretary, Mr Peter McLoone, the State's spend on health, education, housing and infrastructure will remain inadequate if business and personal taxation remains consistently low over long periods of time.

Mr McLoone told delegates at the IMPACT biennial conference in Tralee, Co Kerry today that Ireland, which has the lowest tax rates in the European Union, was suffering serious shortcomings in the delivery of public services.

"Many of the shortcomings exist because we are a low tax society," he said. "The price of consistently low taxes, over long periods of time, will be poorer public services and inadequate infrastructure."

And he warned inadequate tax revenues could hit standards of living as families would find themselves forced to pay for health, housing, education and other services because the State had failed to provide them.

"Those who can't afford it will simply go without," he said.

Mr McLoone also foresaw that businesses will feel the pinch, despite years of low taxation, when the State's underfunded infrastructure became unable to cope with demand.