MANDATE TRADE UNION CONDEMNS GOVERNMENT’S ‘SMASH AND GRAB’ BUDGET RAID ON MIDDLE AND LOWER INCOME FAMILIES
Wednesday 5 December 2012The Mandate Trade Union has condemned the Government’s ‘smash and grab’ raid on middle and lower income families through the abolition of the PRSI exemption, cuts to child benefit and hikes to a range of taxes. Mandate represents over 45,000 workers in the country’s retail and bar trades.
The union’s Assistant General Secretary, Gerry Light, said that the Budget decisions were plainly stupid as they would further reduce domestic demand and put more people on the dole killing any hope of any real economic recovery.
“The abolition of the €127 per week PRSI Exemption is a direct hit on the incomes of those on the lowest pay in our society – people earning €18,000 per year or less and it makes a mockery of Government claims that it is trying to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Individual low paid workers will now be paying an extra €264 per year in PRSI – €528 if there are two people working in the household.
“The fact that Ryanair boss, Michael O’Leary, and other ‘high-rollers’ will also be paying an extra €264 per year in PRSI shows just how regressive this measure will be. What’s unforgivable is that Government decided to conduct this ‘smash and grab’ raid on people with low incomes at the same time as they refused to introduce a 48% tax rate or an increased USC levy on those earning €100,000 or more.”
Mr Light said that a range of other measures in the Budget would make the situation for people on low and middle incomes even worse in particular the €10 cut to Child Benefit. In this context, Gerry Light explained that research conducted for Mandate earlier this year showed that many people are borrowing from friends and family members just to pay their day-to-day bills.
“It’s clear that many people on lower and middle incomes aren’t able to manage on their existing incomes and this situation is going to be made worse by this grossly unfair budget. The consequence of this for the domestic economy will be profound. People will be spending even less in their local shops which in turn will create more job losses and drive us deeper into the economic depression we’re in. When will the Government learn that austerity is not and will not work,” Gerry Light concluded.
