Minister for Finance Michael Noonan was yesterday accused of acting like a “lemming, charging towards the cliff” at the launch of the United Left Alliance (ULA) pre-budget statement.
All five TDs elected under the ULA umbrella attended the event in Dublin yesterday, during which People Before Profit Alliance TD Richard Boyd-Barrett said the Government’s austerity policy was not working.
Mr Boyd-Barrett said €220 billion was in the hands of the top 5 per cent of the population and the ULA was proposing the imposition of a “wealth tax” on assets that it believed would raise €10 billion. The group has also called for an “effective” tax rate for those earning more than €100,000, which it has calculated would raise €5 billion.