What is Sinn Fein’s idea of progressive politics? A €2.6 billion tax bomb – Harris

Minister of State for Finance, Simon Harris, has today (Tuesday) said that Sinn Féin’s idea of progressive politics is based on dropping a €2.6 billion tax bomb which would kill jobs and devastate Foreign Direct Investment.

“Sinn Féin are either naïve or reckless if they think dropping a €2.6 billion tax bomb would have no impact on jobs and Foreign Direct Investment. The Taoiseach pointed out this risk today; Gerry Adam’s reaction shows they have no idea of the devastation their tax bomb would cause.

“Sinn Féin want to hike marginal tax rates to an incredible 59%, or 62% for the self-employed.

“I regularly meet with large multinationals who want to create jobs here in Ireland, and they frequently stress the importance of tax competitiveness in attracting talent and investment.

“Sinn Féin seem to be taking notes from the Fianna Fáil rule book. Fianna Fáil’s approach to the crisis was based on heaping tax on work. That approach lost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. Now that the recovery is underway, Sinn Féin want to introduce penal tax rates, which would devastate job creation and investment.

“Hiking taxes on work would risk the recovery. Fine Gael’s strategy – reducing tax on work to create more jobs – is clearly working. Why would we change tack now?”

ENDS