Sir, – Pat O'Brien is a whizz with statistics when defending the rich from any proposals to increase tax on wealth so as to achieve a modicum of distributive justice here (Letters: "Tax reform and the cost of living", I.T. 29/2, February 29th).
Here are bottom-line facts that fly in the face of any conclusion that Ireland operates a fair taxation system. The most affluent 20 per cent in Ireland now own 73 per cent of the country’s wealth and the poorest 20 per cent own just 0.2 per cent. As for the top 5 per cent, their combined wealth is nearly double that of the entire middle-income group.
It simply is not possible to refer to a tax system as “progressive” which allows such a grotesquely lopsided distribution of the nation’s wealth to materialise. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.