Sir, – Leo Varadkar is about to make a very unfair society unfairer. His intention to cut taxes for the "middle class" will, in fact, benefit the "upper class" the most, and will worsen what is at the core of most of our current ills, distributive injustice. ("Tax cuts for middle class are the focus of Budget 2018, says Taoiseach", September 14th).
It may be the case that those on middle incomes pay a disproportionate amount of the total income tax take; however, the fair way to correct that is to reduce the tax-take from that cohort and increase the take from those on high-end incomes to balance the books.This is best achieved by the introduction of a third rate of tax targeted at high-end incomes.
What the Government is about to do will not address unfairness but will reduce the overall income tax-take, which inevitably will see a reduction in services and supports for the vulnerable in our society. In short, the poorest will foot the bill for what is nothing more than a sleight-of-hand move to reduce the tax burden on the wealthiest in the State. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.