CORI Calls For Fairer Tax System In Ireland

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

02 November 2005

In a recent pre-Budget submission, the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) proposed a number of measures designed to tackle child poverty and benefit the Republic's 'working poor'.

Among the proposals put forward by the group were making tax reliefs available at 20% rather than 40% in order to increase Exchequer income and allow more money to be spent on social issues, making tax credits refundable for those on the lowest incomes, and introducing a child tax credit which is also available to unemployed parents.

Speaking to the Irish media Fr Sean Healy, director of CORI's Justice Commission, additionally proposed the introduction of a carbon tax, and warned against a "race to the bottom" on corporate tax levels.

Commenting on the measures put forward in the policy briefing, Fr Healy observed that:

"They're reasonable proposals that can be implemented within solid fiscal perameters, without damaging the economy, having negative impacts on inflation or the budget expenditure. If they were implemented they would have a substantial impact on child poverty and childcare."

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