Varadkar’s focus on tax debate is welcome

‘TOO often, we have allowed Irish society to be divided into one group of people who pay for everything but get little in return due to means-tests, and another group who believe they should be entitled to everything for free and that someone else should pay for it.”

Leo Varadkar’s pitch to middle income workers will ring true for a lot of people who work hard, pay their taxes, want to contribute to society, but wonder whether they are getting a fair deal.

In this country, they are referred to as the squeezed middle. Across the Irish Sea, they are the JAMs (Just About Managing).

The sentiments are the same. These are the people who ensure our public services are paid for and obey the law. But they get little enough back. Writing in today’s Irish Independent, Mr Varadkar sets out his vision for the future of the tax system.

Ahead of the Fine Gael leadership contest, the frontrunner and Social Protection Minister outlines the broad principles of what he has in mind.

He feels workers hit the higher rate of tax at too low a level, personal taxes are too high, the self-employed are discriminated against and the high rate of tax is a disincentive to attracting skilled workers.

Mr Varadkar also wants to see a greater level of return for workers for social insurance payments. “Taxes should be low, simple and fair,” he writes. Over the coming months, he will have to put flesh on the bone of his proposals.

But a debate on the tax treatment of middle income earners being central to the Fine Gael leadership contest is a welcome development.