Economics: The Government parties would have it that Greens don't "do" and can't "do" economics. That is not and never has been true. What is a fact is that the Green Party has been making a steady journey to where economic realities have become more focused, marrying our ideals to what can be done and how.
As with others we aspire to bring about a better world but this costs money.We need to prioritise our goals - goals such as family-friendly childcare, more investment in public transport and proper planning,instead of urban sprawl and endless commuting. We need to set attainable targets as to when our goals can be achieved.
Most importantly we need to be sure what resources exist, how they can be added to and whether they can be sustained into the future.
Political parties that seek to participate in government need to set clear parameters on how they intend to proceed. The forthcoming election will rightly see detailed examination of the expenditure plans of all parties. To be credible these plans need to base their assessment of spending on not overestimating the future rate of economic growth or underestimating the likely impact of inflation. Most credibility, I believe, will be gained for getting the balance in revenue raising correct.
At the Green Party's national convention in Kilkenny this weekend, I will be speaking to a motion asking that the Green Party adopt a new thinking in the area of tax strategy. The essence of this motion is that, if the core elements of our tax strategy can be achieved, we will commit to not increasing the existing rates of income tax or corporation tax. It is a significant motion, but it should not be oversold as some type of "Clause IV moment" for the Green Party.
All parties, whether they are prepared to admit it or not, want to increase tax take to help fund additional spending. In the past nine years, this Government's tax strategy has been one of stealth. By failing to index tax bands and credits, it has increased the tax take by letting inflation work on its behalf.
The second part of this strategy has been to increase the Government's reliance on taxes on consumption, to the extent that value added tax, which can be the most pernicious of taxes in its disproportionate impact on those on the lowest incomes, is now the tax that provides the largest stream of revenue for the exchequer.
Admittedly, this Government's policies have indeed resulted in low and negligible tax bills - for some. This is the result of a plethora of over-generous and under-productive tax reliefs and loose - in some instances unenforceable - tax residency rules.
Despite evidence produced in the recent report on tax reliefs, including the assertion by the consultants Indecon that "tax incentives are an extremely high cost and wasteful mechanism to achieve [ the] objectives", the Government has chosen to extend many of the more unproductive and wasteful schemes until after the next election. It has even decided to introduce new, more controversial schemes.
In the corporate tax system, a similar system of large-scale capital write-offs against tax liabilities exists. While the corporate tax rates have been reduced, similar reductions in the scale and type of capital tax reliefs that have existed from when the rate of corporate tax was 50 per cent have not occurred.
Why are capital and property so acknowledged in the Irish tax system? An obvious explanation is that those whose economic interests are found in capital and property have exerted their influence in ways that best represent their needs. The result is a lopsided and utterly unfair taxation system that needs to be reformed.
What reforms would the Greens seek? Our choice would be to remove immediately most of the tax reliefs that the Government chose to extend in Budget 2006. Moreover, the Green Party would move away from reliefs for buildings and towards reliefs for activities that build communities.
We have suggested that childcare support payments would be better as refundable tax credits, and that other socially beneficial activities, such as care work and volunteering, should be similarly rewarded.
Indeed, on grounds of efficiency and equity, we would like to make all tax credits refundable so that those on low incomes can receive maximum benefit from such reliefs.
We would ensure that wealth earned in Ireland is taxed in Ireland. We would seek to vary the cap on the amount any individual could claim on tax reliefs, depending on whether the relief in question was income-based, investment-led or based on a directed charitable donation.
And there are taxes we will seek to reduce, including the top rate of VAT and excise duties on certain environmentally-beneficial goods.
We would choose to restructure stamp duty to allow for greater ease in trading down to smaller properties and more assistance for first-time buyers.
If the stream of revenue from corporation tax is to be made more sustainable, R&D, employment- generating activities, corporate social and environmental responsibility and environmentally-friendly activities should be rewarded by tax reliefs, and unproductive corporate reliefs should be phased out.
Index-linking of tax bands and credit would be introduced as a new section of the Taxes Consolidation Act. A government including the Greens would be a government of open taxation, not one of stealth.
Of course, to balance these proposals, there are tax measures we would seek to introduce. We would re-introduce the levy on bank profits at a rate of 5 per cent. We would increase capital gains tax from 20 per cent to 25 per cent to ensure equity between taxes on labour and on capital. We would introduce a carbon levy to help meet our Kyoto commitments and a strategy to recoup increases in land value as a replacement for commercial rates.
We share the analysis of organisations like the ESRI and Chambers Ireland. We will be contesting the next election from a perspective that the tax system can and should focus on people - not property.
Dan Boyle is finance spokesman for the Green Party.
