Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has accused Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte of reversing his position on taxation and making unaffordable election promises.

In a speech to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in Dublin yesterday, he also defended the Government's record on taxation and promised to give priority to spending on the National Development Plan.

Referring to last week's Labour Party proposals if elected to cut the standard rate of tax from 20 per cent to 18 per cent, Mr Cowen said Mr Rabbitte had performed a "backflip" on taxation.

"The day after I presented my latest budget, Mr Rabbitte told the Dáil, referring to the cut in the higher rate of tax, that 'there is no efficiency case for this cut. Where reform is needed is in the standard rate band'."

Referring to increases in tax thresholds and tax credits in the last budget, Mr Cowen said Labour promises on income tax could be negated if thresholds and credits did not continue to rise with inflation. "Commitments that are loud on rates but silent on bands and credits are meaningless."

The Opposition had failed to explain how it would fund promises to cut income taxes, he added.

"The way some parties, most notably Fine Gael and Labour, are making promises at the moment, you would think that the Exchequer was funded by some very benevolent, very rich and very distant relative," Mr Cowen said.

"Of course the Exchequer is funded by the hard work of the people of this country and it is ordinary taxpayers who will pay the price for political promises."

Labour Party estimates put the annual cost of its proposal to cut the standard rate of income tax at €1.04 billion.

Mr Cowen also renewed the Government's commitment to spending €184 billion on infrastructure if re-elected.

"The full implementation of the National Development Plan must be the first priority of the next administration and should take precedence over whimsical, short-termist promises or gestures," he said.