Sir, - It will take more than one pre-election budget to reverse the impression that this Government is a government for the rich ("Harney to put services before taxes in Budget", The Irish Times, July 31st). The budgets which this Government, led by the Thatcherite Harney-McCreevy axis, has produced over the past few years have consistently favoured the wealthy.
When it came into office the level of personal taxation in Ireland was high; however, the problem was not the tax rates, which were more or less in line with the rest of Europe, but the income at which these rates were imposed. People on modest incomes were paying the top rate.
When given the option of widening tax bands, which favours the lower paid, or cutting tax rates, which favours the wealthy, the Government favoured the wealthy.
Now, at a time when the health service needs a huge injection of cash, it is proposing to cut the top rate of tax again. Its great generosity towards the wealthy contrasts with its miserly attitude to the health service.
The sooner this Government is out of office, the better for the health service, the poor, and the country. - Yours, etc.,
Sean Lynch, Bachelors Walk, Dublin 1.