Sir, - It's good to hear more and more voices urging the Government not to give in to the temptation of buying temporary popularity by showering tax rebates on us all in the next Budget, now that there is some extra cash.
People are beginning to realise the money we pay in tax does not go to some grasping, mean-faced "they" who are trying to rob us of our hard-earned cash, but comes back to ourselves: if we want decent schools and shorter hospital waiting lists, good roads and street lighting, public amenities, a safety net for the poor and the old, an end to areas of social deprivation and a reduction in crime, we have to pay for them.
We have already stopped turning the other cheek to the robber barons who robbed us in the past by not paying their taxes, and we will soon have to stop depending on the good fairy (the EU) to provide for us with a wave of her wand.
There are no fairy tales, just the need for all of us who are earning to pay a fair tax. I hope Mr McCreevy is aware of this. - Yours, etc.,
From Margrit Cruickshank
Auburn Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.