Government must tax wealth and corporate profits, not hammer ordinary people with regressive tax
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has said that the government’s proposal to increase taxes on family homes is an unjust punishment of homeowners and that it is not a progressive taxation measure as it does not take into account people’s income.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD said the government should increase taxes on multiple property owners and corporate landlords.
The TD, who is the People Before Profit spokesperson on Finance and Housing, said that the government, instead of finding different ways to get ordinary people to foot the bill for Covid, should look to tax millionaires and corporate profits.
He said: “The property tax by its very nature is a regressive tax because it bears absolutely no relation to people’s income. This, just like the previously mooted proposal from the government to resuscitate the JobBridge scheme, is yet another austerity measure that the government are trying to bring in by stealth to pay for the Covid crisis.
“People in this country are at the pin of their collar with huge rents, some of the highest mortgage interest rates in the EU and generally an extortionate cost of living. The government instead of targeting ordinary workers who happen to own their family home need to tax people on very high incomes, millionaires and corporate profits.
“In particular the government need to increase the taxes on multiple property owners and corporate landlords.”