Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty is calling on Fianna Fáil to further expand on their proposed taxation plans in their General Election manifesto.
The Sinn Fein Finance Spokesperson made the call after a national radio debate today, where he challenged his Fianna Fail counterpart, Minister for Finance Jack Chambers, on a proposed €1.57 billion increase in tax revenues.
Deputy Doherty says that Fianna Fáil haven’t done enough to explain exactly where this money will be raised.
In a statement, Doherty said that “…Fianna Fáil have presented a €1.57 billion tax package, and with six days to go before the election, they still haven’t explained to voters, who are being hammered by the cost of living crisis, which taxes they are going to increase to raise this money.”
He challenged Minister Chambers to demonstrate where these increases would come from.
“Today, I challenged Jack Chambers on this. He initially and ludicrously attempted to claim that he would do this through raising tax on cigarettes. This is nonsense,” Deputy Doherty claimed.
“I explained to the Minister that to raise such an amount through taxes on cigarettes, he would have to raise the price of a packet of cigarettes by another €20 on top of what they already cost now. That could mean a pack of cigarettes costing up to €36.”
“Jack Chambers then quickly changed tack and said it would be raised through carbon taxes. However, an increase in carbon taxes has already been legislated for up to 2030.”
“That will not bring in additional money that the government can spend. It’s already factored into the budgetary package. You can’t spend that money twice – unless Jack Chambers is planning to double the tax increase – from 12 cent on a litre of diesel to 24 cent a litre.”
“Fianna Fáil needs to come clean now. They need to be honest with the public on what additional taxes they are planning to increase over the next number of years to raise the €1.5bn of taxes included in their manifesto.”
“The fact of the matter is that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government will impose punitive tax measures on hard-working people who are already at the pin of their collar trying to make ends meet. That is not good enough and it’s not what people want.”