Universal Social Charge is Unfair; Fine Gael will Abolish it – Minister Coffey

Fine Gael Waterford Minister Paudie Coffey has stated that the USC is an unfair tax that was introduced by Fianna Fail in 2010 as the economy collapsed around them.  The USC was an emergency tax that was only intended for the short term.  Minister Coffey re-affirmed his commitment that if Fine Gael are re-elected to government in a few weeks’ time they will abolish the tax by 2020.

“Fine Gael wants to make work pay; we are committed to implement policies, initiatives and plans to increase the number of people at work by 200,000 by 2020.  This will allow us to firstly reduce and then abolish Fianna Fail’s hated USC tax.

“Amazingly all other political parties want to retain the USC; only Fine Gael wants it gone.  If you decide to vote for Fine Gael we will abolish the tax.  This will mean that the effective rate of tax on income will reduce from 52% down to 44%; this will encourage people to take up jobs in the economy and attract investment into Ireland.

“Voters will have a stark choice between stability and chaos in a few weeks’ time.  We as a nation have come through the worst financial crash to ever hit Ireland; now is the time to secure the recovery.  We are in a position to abolish the USC because of the extra number of people at work and Fine Gael has a Long Term Economic Plan to keep the recovery going that will create 200,000 additional jobs by 2020.”

—Ends—