Sinn Féin’s plan to increase income tax by 8% and tax assets would destroy the economy – O’Donovan

Fine Gael TD for Limerick, Patrick O’Donovan, has today warned farmers, the self-employed and people with savings accounts to be aware of Sinn Féin’s planned policies of tax and spend, which would directly impact on assets.    

“Speaking at the Finance Committee last week, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty again outlined his party’s policy of vastly increasing tax and spending money across all areas of the public service with very little detail of how this level of spending could be maintained.

“Sinn Féin want the marginal rate of income tax to go from 40% to 48% and they also want a wealth tax . Responding to Deputy Doherty, the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, said that if both measures were introduced in the same year, this policy would tax the economy out of existence.

“Limerick farmers, the self-employed and anybody with savings need to be very wary of Sinn Féin’s plans which would attach a tax to anything other than the family home. Sinn Féin also intend to increase PRSI and USC, bringing the effective rate of tax to 59% for PAYE workers and 62% for the self-employed.

“I am in agreement with Minister Noonan that we will not be able to create 15,000 extra jobs next year if those proposed tax measures are introduced and that our young people would not be incentivised to stay and work here, or to return to Ireland, if they would lose such a large proportion of their income.

“It is also extremely worrying that a farmer with land worth over €1 million may only earn €15,000 annually from that land, yet this same farmer would be hammered by Sinn Féin’s   proposals.

“Pearse Doherty’s idea of shoving up the income tax rate by a massive 8% and introducing a wealth tax is bad for the self-employed; it is bad for PAYE workers; it is bad for older people; bad for younger people; bad for start-ups and would ultimately destroy the Irish economy.”