Taxes Ain't Tithen!

Jesuit calls for higher taxes on better-off

PATSY McGARRY and MARY FITZGERALD

Mon, Oct 13, 2008

THOSE IN higher brackets ought to pay more income tax and current tax incentive schemes need to be looked at rigorously, an agency of the Jesuit congregation has said.

Fr Tony O'Riordan, director of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, said "it should not be considered 'unthinkable' that there would be an increase in income taxes for those on high incomes, especially the very top earners who gained so much during the boom years."

In a statement, ahead of tomorrow's budget, he continued: "the current, very costly, array of tax incentive schemes, which by definition are availed of mainly by those who are already well-off, should be critically examined, and only those that are shown to be essential to economic development and have substantial benefit to society should be preserved."

He said "increases in indirect taxes must be targeted on non-essential items, since such taxes take no account of income and therefore have greatest impact on those who are the least well-off."

More generally he noted that "the current economic crisis challenges this country with profound questions as to the values and priorities we should adopt to guide us through these difficult times".

"In a time when everyone in Irish society will feel the effects of the crisis - and would prefer not to - those who are better off need to be aware that there are others who have a greater moral claim to be insulated from the impact of the downturn. Without this public awareness, the environment necessary for policy responses that may be difficult and unpopular, but are just and in the interest of the common good, will not exist."

He said that the wisdom of the maxim that the "market is a good servant but a very bad master" was now being acknowledged by more and more people. "We need to strongly assert that equality, fairness, and economic and environmental sustainability have to be at the heart of our definition of development," he said.

The congregation has also launched a website to record the social costs of cutbacks and closures of projects, programmes and services. It is at www.jcfj.ie/cutbacks and details of such can be sent to cutbacks@jcfj.ie

Link (here) to the full article in the Irish Times

What are taxes (here).

What is a tithe (here).