Madam, - The taxes avoided by our wealthy tax exiles would pay for an awful lot of seatbelts in school buses. That is not to say that the Government would not have wasted the money on something else but the point remains that it is important that people contribute to society and that avoiding tax is not a joke.
It is not enough surreptitiously to avoid tax and conspicuously to give to charity. Most people in Ireland pay taxes and give to charity and I am willing to bet that the percentage of their income that goes on both outstrips the percentage of any tax exile's income which finds its way back into the community.
There is something vulgar in this desire to make and hold on to money at all costs. There is no dignity in scurrying in and out of the country to avoid tax and a clear lack of social conscience in threatening to move away altogether if things change.
Is having money all that matters to these people? After all, how many houses, cars and paintings can you buy? - Yours, etc.,
HUGH CAREY, Portacarron, Ballymoneen Road, Galway.
Madam - Vincent Browne (Opinion, May 18th) is correct. If we want public services on a par with most other EU countries we will need significantly more investment - that is, more taxes. Yet none of the political parties is willing to engage in an open and honest dialogue with the electorate. Instead, they hold out the vision of improved public services but refuse to discuss how these will be paid for.
Unfortunately, the trade union movement does the same. Uniquely in Europe, Irish trade unions have supported, or at least consented to, past governments' tax-cutting agendas.
Mr Browne asks: why were tax cuts necessary? Part of the answer lies in the logic of national wage agreements. It was alleged that in order to make business "more competitive", wages had to be kept artificially low. Therefore, the only way to increase take-home pay was to cut income taxes.
However, cutting taxes reduced government income. Thus, public services were starved of investment and poverty increased. We have been caught in this vicious cycle for over a decade. That is one of the reasons why our union has opposed wage agreements.
It is now clear that the economy cannot sustain another round of indiscriminate tax cuts - not if we value social cohesion. In fact, we must reverse course. A new national consensus must be created whereby tax reform creates greater resources for social investment while protecting those on low and average incomes. Yes, this means more taxes. But integrating increased taxation into a long-term strategy consistent with economic growth is the only route to higher living standards and a better quality of life. Tax cuts of a few extra euro a week will not buy someone a hospital bed or a childcare place or a house or nursing home care.
So the next time a political party announces it can rectify the crisis in healthcare, education, poverty, social housing, etc, without detailing where it will find the resources, it is just selling worthless aspirations.
As economists are so fond of telling us, you can't get something for nothing. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL O'REILLY, Regional Secretary, Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1.