Sir, – The ruling elite will be toasting Chris Johns ("Our average earners have low tax burden", Business Opinion, June 20th), who writes ". . . if we want to be like other countries we are already there for high earners but we will need to take more from average earners".
The average annual wage in Ireland according to CSO figures is €35,738. Mr Johns advocates that imposing more taxes on people with these very modest earnings and therefore reducing their limited disposable income even further is part of the solution to our economic woes. The implication of Mr Johns’s argument is that we already tax the well-off enough and therefore the appropriate option is to impose additional hardship on the average earner. Mr Johns seems to be of the view that the wealthy have reached their limit of pain and can’t give anymore, while those earning €35,738 a year have surplus income that can be further taxed.
Mr Johns concludes his article with “I can hear the shouting already” but no matter how loud the shouts of protest are against his article they will no doubt be drowned out by the delighted shouts of approval from the “hard-pressed” elite. – Yours, etc,
NOEL WARDICK,
Conquer Hill Avenue,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.