TAXATION:INCOMES OVER €100,000 should be taxed at a new, higher rate of 48 per cent, according to a pre-budget statement to be issued by the Labour Party towards the end of this week.
Ending tax exile status, phasing out tax reliefs on property and directors’ pensions and introducing a carbon levy on fuels such as petrol and diesel are also part of the package, which may also include higher excise duty on cigarettes.
The statement will be issued on either Thursday or Friday and party leader Eamon Gilmore said it would raise €430 million in a year.
The other proposals are intended to yield up to €2 billion in extra revenue.
Mr Gilmore told reporters at the end of the party conference in Mullingar yesterday: “Our objective will be to have an adjustment of about €2 billion to €2.5 billion. That’s probably about the size of the adjustment that the economy can take.
“We will be including in that the third tax rate, the ending of certain tax reliefs, phasing out of those on property, directors’ pensions and ending the status of tax exiles.
“Obviously, there will be a number of other proposals as well. We will have a proposal on carbon tax.”
There was also “larger scope” for unpaid leave in the public service to reduce payroll costs.
On the tax exile issue, he said: “It’s about fairness.” He added: “There shouldn’t be the opportunities for people who have good accountants to escape their tax obligations.”
Labour would be “addressing” the issue of excise duties on cigarettes in its pre-budget statement.
Labour strongly advocates a work placement programme for unemployed graduates: “The principal idea is that nobody would go directly from school or college onto the dole. “If it’s costing €20,000 to have somebody out of work, you would be better spending the €20,000 having somebody in work.
“So, if you have a graduate teacher, say, coming out of college, you use the €20,000 to give them a teaching apprenticeship, basically, in a school.
“You would do the same with solicitors. You have huge waiting lists in the legal aid centres and that would be one of the ways of reducing that.
“If you take professionals like engineers, architects, there’s a big job of work to be done, for example, on the whole energy labelling, the assessment of buildings to establish what label they should get.
“And the other area is the developing world and developing countries.
“ a lot of people who are out of work, or find themselves ‘between jobs’ so to speak, it is a time that some people, if the right incentives were provided, would take up volunteer opportunities in developing countries.”
Commenting on the latest Sunday Business Post/Red C poll showing that Fianna Fáil had gained five points to 28 per cent whereas Labour had dropped five points to 17 per cent, he said: “The St Patrick’s Day period was quite good, particularly for the Government.”
Describing the next general election as “a three-way contest” he said: “There are very big shifts taking place in the political landscape.”
Assessing the Labour conference, he welcomed the overwhelming vote in favour of the 21st Century Commission Report recommending a new party constitution: “They are very important reforms for the party.”
The smaller executive board would “be able to deal more quickly with changing times changing requirements of the party”.
He also highlighted the changes in candidate selection procedures and the new affiliation rules for trade unions, whereby their delegations to conference will be based on actual Labour Party membership instead of overall organisational strength.
The party was still opposed to the re-introduction of third-level college fees. “We believe that there should be universal access to third-level education,” he said.
This should be funded through the taxation system, he added.
Delegates at the Mullingar conference voted against a motion that urged the nationalisation of all Irish banks.
The party’s finance spokeswoman and deputy leader Joan Burton said she was against the idea on the grounds that some banks were not worth nationalising.