Sinn Fein says abolition of USC would be ‘unfair and reckless’

Sinn Féin has committed itself to retain the Universal Social Charge, leaving it the only one of the four largest parties to do so.

The party outlined its economic policies at a press conference in Dublin on Monday. Its finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said the abolition of USC in its entirety would be “unfair and reckless”.

The party has said it would remove a further 277,000 workers from USC but leave it in place for others. Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour have all committed to phasing out the controversial charge, introduced as an emergency measure in 2010.

Mr Doherty accused Minister for Finance Michael Noonan of flip-flopping on the issues. Not long ago Mr Noonan said he saw USC as a permanent feature of the personal tax system, Mr Doherty said. Mr Noonan has now said he will abolish it as the ‘emergency is over’, which was inconsisten, Mr Doherty said.

Mr Doherty claimed the abolition of USC would leave high earners €10,000 better off each year, while low-paid workers on a salary of €18,000 would benefit to the tune of only €100.

He said Sinn Féin in government would abolish water charges, property tax, and would also introduce a 48 per cent tax rate for earnings over €100,000.

He said other parties had “spoofed” about the fiscal space, making promises in relation to €2 billion that did not exist. He claimed all Sinn Féin measures were costed by the Department of Finance.

He promised those who had not paid water charges would not be pursued to pay their bills, and both those charges and property taxes would be scrapped immediately upon Sinn Féin entering government.

Asked if that would lead to inequity and unfairness for those compliant citizens who paid water charges, and might feel hard done by, Mr Doherty repeated that Sinn Féin would not allow them to claw back their charges.

He said Sinn Féin had been “up-front and honest” that it would abolish water charges and not penalise those who had not paid. He said that people had a choice not to pay charges but had chosen to do so.