THE WORKERS' PARTY OF IRELAND

Gilmore's tough decisions only tough on the vulnerable

No sign of "tough decisions" on Corporation Tax, Financial Transactions or Wealth Tax for the super-rich

Cllr. Ted Tynan
Cllr. Ted Tynan

The Workers’ Party have said that when working class people hear Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and his colleagues talking about taking “tough decisions” it invariably means that their government is about to launch another attack on the living standards of ordinary workers and the poor.

Workers’ Party Councillor Ted Tynan said that when it came to issues such as the unfair distribution of wealth in this country, the soft tax regime on big business or the restricted practices of the legal and medical elite there were no such tough decisions.

Cllr. Tynan said that despite constantly repeating the mantra that there were no exceptions to the government’s spending cuts and tax increase, the government continued to regard the country’s exceptionally low Corporation Tax of 12.5% as a sacred cow and was completely unprepared to contemplate a Financial Transactions Tax or a Wealth Tax.

“The independent think-tank TASC has estimated that a Financial Transactions Tax of just 0.1% would bring in more than €5.5 billion every year, yet the government completely ignores this option and is unwilling to listen to such suggestions”.

Cllr. Tynan said that the government’s “tough decisions” were reserved only for the working class and instead of ring-fencing the poor and vulnerable from the onslaught of the EU/IMF the Fine Gael / Labour coalition were ring-fencing the powerful and wealthy.

Issued 11th September 2012

Peace, Work, Democracy & Class Politics