DETAILS OF an “alternative Budget 2011”, which would cut €3 billion from Government expenditure while increasing welfare payments and taking 100,000 people off the Live Register, were published yesterday.
Social Justice Ireland (SJI) which has fully costed its proposed budget, says the Government should not take more than €3 billion out of the economy in Budget 2011. To do so would “be a recipe for inflicting deep economic and social damage”.
SJI’s proposals were welcomed as “refreshing and achievable” by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) and by anti-poverty groups and non-governmental organisations.
“A key question in framing Budget 2011 is what kind of Ireland do we want in the future,” said SJI Director, Fr Seán Healy.
In the policy briefing, titled “A Fairer Future is Possible”, the organisation says the budget should eliminate tax breaks that most benefit the better off and should impose a 2.5 per cent levy on corporate profits.
It says the minimum wage, currently €8.65 per hour, should not be cut. “The costs of exposing more workers to poverty and greater inequality while deepening the experience of others in poverty would far outweigh any possible gains.” It calls for the introduction of refundable tax credits so that when an individual’s income is insufficient to use all the tax credits available to him/her, the credits would be paid back as a cash transfer at the end of the year.Low-paid employees miss out on some or all tax credits. This would cost €140 million.
Some 100,000 people could be taken off the Live Register if SJI’s labour market proposals were implemented, it says.
The Part-Time Job Opportunities programme would give employment, in the public and community sector, to people in receipt of job-seeker benefit and assistance. They would be paid at the going rate, working the required number of hours to earn the equivalent of their welfare payment. Working a maximum of 19½ hours a week, participants would be free to take other part-time work, and would be liable for tax if their income brought them into the tax net. It would be a voluntary programme.
This would cost €300 million.
It was “simply unacceptable” that the corporate sector, which enjoys a tax rate of just 12.5 per cent, was not required to make a contribution to rescuing Ireland from the current crisis, said Fr Healy. SJI calls for a levy on corporate profits of 2.5 per cent, which would bring in €632 million.
On social welfare, Fr Healy said rates should be increased by €5 per week. It was vital the poorest were not pushed further into poverty in the budget. He said any additional money welfare recipients got would be spent in the Irish economy, “not in the south of Spain”. This measure would cost €365 million. Dóchas, a coalition of 70 anti-poverty groups, welcomed the alternative budget.
