The leader of the State's largest public service union has warned the Government that next month's Budget "will determine the success or failure of talks on a new national agreement". The general secretary of IMPACT, Mr Peter McLoone, was commenting on his union's Budget submission, being published today.
Mr McLoone is also chairman of the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and will be one of the principal negotiators in the talks on a national agreement, which begin tomorrow. Speaking about the submission yesterday he made it clear that the issues which needed to be addressed were much wider than simple tax cuts.
"Workers will be watching closely to see if the Government is moving towards a fairer tax system, where tax cheats are punished and pay restraint rewarded," he said. "Whether tax abuse is dealt with firmly, consistently and impartially will be a significant factor in the acceptability of any new national agreement."
In line with the ICTU and a number of other large unions such as SIPTU and MANDATE, IMPACT wants measures which will take low-paid workers out of the tax net and remove average earners from the top tax bracket. Mr McLoone said at least 80 per cent of PAYE workers should be taken off the 46 per cent tax rate.
As the union representing professional and technical grades in the Civil Service, including tax inspectors, IMPACT has long advocated a move to tax credits. It welcomed the move towards credits in the last Budget.
However, Mr McLoone said this process should be completed in the December Budget. The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, should also increase personal allowances and widen the standard rate tax band. The Minister should "eschew cuts in headline tax rates altogether".
He is also calling for a substantial increase in the £1,000 PAYE allowance, which has not kept up with inflation. PAYE workers' contribution to economic success deserved to be recognised, Mr McLoone said, and this was the only tax allowance by which they could benefit exclusively. The submission advocates that tax credits, allowances and the standard rate of tax band should be automatically increased each year in line with either the Consumer Price Index or wages, "whichever is the greater".
IMPACT is calling for tax relief on childcare for working families. Payments by working parents who send their children to a registered crΦche or childcare facility should be liable to tax relief at the standard rate, it says, although the union accepts a ceiling may have to be set.
Workers should be entitled to tax relief on 30 per cent of their income set aside for pensions. The current ceiling is 15 per cent.
Because of the significant number of people in non-marital relationships, it suggests that taxpayers should be able to transfer unused tax allowances to a non-marital spouse.
The full IMPACT submission is on www.impact.ie
Christine Newman adds:
An increase in child benefit to £132 per month per child and the allocation of £1 billion over the next three years to regenerate the most disadvantaged communities are two of the recommendations of the Combat Poverty Agency.
The agency, in a statement prior to the start of discussions tomorrow on a successor to Partnership 2000, said creating a poverty-free society should be a key goal of any new partnership agreement.
It identified four areas for priority in its submission: reducing child poverty, narrowing the gap between rich and poor, prioritising housing and life-long learning and addressing the regional and local dimensions of poverty.
Mr Hugh Frazer, director of the agency, said: "There is no economic and social justification for poverty in Ireland. Given the resources that are currently available a new national agreement provides an unprecedented opportunity to create a poverty-free society,"
An extra £3.8 million in the Budget could lead to the creation of more than 300 jobs for people with disabilities, the Rehab Group said yesterday at the introduction of a pre-Budget campaign and submission.
Rehab also called for the allocation of an extra £10 million for urgently needed respite care. This would allow the carers of some 4,000 people with disabilities and older people to have a break, it stated in the submission.
The group also sought an increase in the weekly disability allowance and funding to establish a three-year supported employment programme.