Madam, - The logic of Vincent Browne's position on Labour's tax-cut proposal is that all available State resources should go to the very poorest.
Therefore, all public healthcare should be withdrawn from those on the top rate of tax, free education and child benefit should be means-tested, all museums and galleries should charge admission, art projects should be cancelled, along with public transport into well-off areas.
This reductionist view of politics and economics goes against the universalist nature of left-wing politics. People on modest incomes with mortgages, medical bills, and childcare costs deserve to have some of the burden lifted from them. Fianna Fáil and the PDs have concentrated the bulk of their efforts on helping the higher earners. Labour believes others should get a break.
Left-wing politics is not about extending charity into politics; it is about how society can be best organised for everybody. Labour has published several proposals on how to deal with social exclusion but its politics must be about more than this.
Surely if Vincent Browne is concerned about the poorest, he should be welcoming Labour's five pledges in critical areas of health, community policing, housing and early childhood education, all areas which greatly affect disadvantage and inequality. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL McLOUGHLIN,
Riverwood Heath,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.