Sir, - Bertie Ahern's promise of a €120-a-week pension for home-makers will have been well and truly paid for by these same home-makers, at the rate of up to an extra €5,000 a year income tax on single-income married couples; but that is only the beginning of the story.
There is already evidence to show that, as long as income-tax individualisation prevails, dual income married couples will be economically obliged to limit their families, resulting in fewer workers available to contribute to our economy down the line.
In addition, there will be an extra cost on the taxpayers because of the reduced availability of volunteers/carers, as shown by the recent disclosure that there are up to 50 beds in Tallaght Hospital occupied by elderly people who are well enough to be discharged, but who have nobody to give them a helping hand at home.
The fact remains that, despite the conjugal gymnastics of some of our high-profile personalities, marriage is still sacred, the two having become one. It therefore follows that the income of a married couple is their joint income and should be treated as such for income-tax purposes. - Yours, etc.
Anne Cahill, Laurel Park, Clondalkin, Dublin 22