Flat rate allowances review
Deputy Shane Cassells questions the sudden move to establish a tax strategy group on flat rate allowances affecting many workers, including miners in Navan. The Taoiseach says he is not familiar with the detail and will come back to the Deputy with an answer.
At a meeting last week of the Committee of Public Accounts, I questioned the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners on the issue of the removal of flat rate allowances as the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance had told me in this Chamber that this was not a matter for them, even though it impacted some 600,000 workers and many hundreds of miners in my home town of Navan. Last night, on the eve of an election, the Minister for Finance pulled a rabbit out of his magician's hat and announced that a tax strategy group would be established to examine this matter. When did the Taoiseach and Paul Daniels dream up this group, as the Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners had no clue about it last Thursday? How many days after the general election is it due to report back to Government and hit these 600,000 workers.
