SINN FÉIN has proposed a higher tax rate of 48 per cent on incomes over €100,000 in a pre-Budget submission to the Government.
Deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald MEP said proposals by Sinn Féin, which had been costed by the Department of Finance, would raise €2.46 billion by the end of the year.
A similar proposal for a 48 per cent tax rate is to be outlined by the Labour Party later this week.
Ms McDonald told a Dublin news conference yesterday the higher tax rate would bring in an extra € 180 million this year.
Other Sinn Féin proposals include the following (with savings in brackets): Pay-Related Social Insurance (PRSI) on employees up one per cent, and PRSI ceiling abolished (€563 million); Health levy up three per cent on those earning in excess of €100,000 (€90 million); Capital Gains Tax up from 22 per cent to 30 per cent (€286 million); Tax on second homes up from €200 to €600 (€80 million); Tax relief on mortgage interest for landlords down 50 per cent (€233 million); Discretionary tax relief schemes available only at standard rate (€600 million).
Ms McDonald said a further €598 million would accrue from measures such as capping salaries for TDs at €80,000 and Senators at €60,000, which would save €4.423 million.
She said removing allowances from chairs, vice-chairs and convenors of Leinster House committees would save €485,000.
A total of €8.4 million would be saved by a 20 per cent cut in travel expenses across all government departments, the Sinn Féin deputy leader said.
The document also proposed an increase in State borrowing to 10.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in order to stimulate the economy. “We need to stabilise public finance and stimulate the economy,” Ms McDonald said. “The Budget next week must address both of those issues.
“So far, it seems to us that the Government has confused bookkeeping with economics. It has singularly obsessed on balancing the books, at the expense of having any plan around job retention and job creation,” she said.
On corporation tax, Sinn Féin economic adviser Joanne Spain said: “We’d be in favour of multiple bands and rates for business tax, for income tax – a complete overhaul of the taxation system.”
The party’s Dáil spokesman on finance, Arthur Morgan, said: “While we’re working our way through this period, of course, we need to overhaul the tax system, all of the tax system, to ensure that it’s fair and equitable both for individuals and for business and for enterprise.”
Asked whether Sinn Féin was a pro-business party, Ms McDonald replied: “We’re pro-jobs. The bottom line is, we want people working.”
