THE “DRACONIAN” Finance Bill should not be fast-tracked in advance of the upcoming general election, Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins said yesterday.
Mr Higgins, who is to run in the next election as part of the United Left Alliance, said it would be unthinkable that “a discredited Government with no mandate” could push the Bill through.
The Finance Bill, designed to transpose into law measures introduced in the December Budget, may be the last piece of legislation to be passed by the current Dáil.
“The readiness of the Labour Party and Fine Gael to facilitate the fast-tracking of this Bill is utterly cynical and opportunistic. It betrays the reality that these parties have no alternative to the IMF-EU cuts,” he said.
“The contents of the Finance Bill should be the main issue at the heart of the debate during the general election campaign. In this way, all political parties would be forced to lay out their proposals in a way that was clearly seen by the voters,” Mr Higgins said.
Chartered Accountants Ireland has warned a rushed Finance Bill would result in bad tax laws. The organisation, which represents 18,000 accountants, said the Bill, published last week, introduces additional measures not mentioned at Budget time that should be debated.
Brian Keegan, director of taxation with the body, said the proposed timeframe for the passage of the Finance Bill would result in the normal process being truncated – possibly down to one eighth of the time usually allotted. He said the Bill was a complicated piece of legislation that would affect every person in the State. “The process of debating the Finance Bill allows time to establish whether or not the Budget Day policies and decisions are accurately reflected in the proposed law,” he said.
The Bill would also introduce charges and levies not mentioned at Budget time, he said, including new powers for the Revenue Commissioners. “Such important matters should not be imposed upon the citizens of this country without adequate debate,” he added.
