THE leader of the Democratic Left and Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, indicated last night that his party would be more likely to favour changes in the Residential Property Tax (RPT), rather than its abolition.
Speaking on the RTE programme, Questions and Answers, he pointed out that if the valuation threshold for the tax was raised to £125,000 this would mean half of those at present in the RPT net would be excluded, while income to the Exchequer would drop by only 10 per cent.
Mr De Rossa emphasised there was no division between the Government parties on the issue, pointing out that it had yet to be discussed at cabinet. He also spoke in favour of reform of the present tax system, and the abolition of water charges.
On the social welfare fraud issue, Mr De Rossa said he believed the real figure for fraud was between eight and 20 per cent. He said he was surprised at the Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures published last week.
He agreed with the programme presenter, John Bowman, that a subsequent revision downwards by the CSO of its figures, from 16 to 11 per cent, had followed contact between officials from his department and staff at the CSO.
He also took issue with employers who were abusing the system by insisting employees draw the dole to supplement their wages.
