Labour has proposed taxation measures aimed almost entirely at people on low to middle incomes, and at pensioners.
The party's budgetary strategy document proposes that after a new social partnership agreement is completed, those earning up to £200 per week should pay no tax at all, while people should pay at only the standard rate on earnings up to £20,000 per year.
In this year's Budget the personal tax credit should be increased by £500 for a single person, which would make every taxpayer £10 per week better off, the party says.
Other proposals include exempting the first £5,000 of pension income from tax, completing the move to tax credits, increasing capital gains tax to the standard rate of income tax and deferring capital acquisitions tax for people who inherit a family home in which they reside, or who cannot pay the tax until the asset is sold.
Mr McDowell yesterday called on employers to introduce more profit- and gain-sharing schemes, saying that measures which "spread the benefits of economic growth must be embraced by employers in a far more comprehensive fashion than heretofore."