BUDGET SEASON officially gets underway today, with Sinn Féin becoming the first political party to launch its pre-Budget submission, published this afternoon.
In its submission, the Dáil’s smallest party proposes to introduce €5.8bn in adjustments for the Budget, to be announced on December 7.
This would be funded under the party’s projections by €4bn in increased taxation, according to RTÉ News, while the remaining €1.8bn would be found in spending cuts.
Sinn Féin – as with Labour – has proposed a new 48% income tax rate for those earning over €100,000, as well as the abolition of the PRSI ceiling and a new 1% wealth tax on all assets worth over €1m.
The party’s finance spokesman Arthur Morgan said the savings would include a 25% cut in fees paid by the government to professionals, a wage cap of €100,000 in semi-state bodies.
The party also wants to save cash through capping the pay of politicians, with ministers earning €100,000, TDs €75,000 and Senators €60,000.
The adjustment would come in tandem, the party says, with a €7bn stimulus package in increased capital spending over the coming three-and-a-half years, funded through the national pension reserve fund.
The Irish Times reports, however, that Morgan and party president Gerry Adams were reluctant to offer concrete figures on a projected rate of economic growth. The party also said it would not be bound by the government’s target of reducing the budget deficit to 3% of GDP by 2014.
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