SVP urges McCreevy not to target less-well off
The St Vincent de Paul society has called on Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy to remove minimum wage earners from the tax net.
In its pre-budget submission, the society also called on the minister to honour the Government’s commitment to provide more social housing and to ensure that the budget does not target the less-well off.
SVP vice-president John Monaghan said the cutbacks of past 12 months had impacted disproportionately on low-income families.
"We have received an additional 7,600 calls to our helpline asking for assistance," he said.
"The biggest difficulty has been trying to cope with the increase in stealth taxes, increases in costs to go into a hospital, increases in things like VAT, ESB and transport charges. All of these impact very definitely on low-income families who have very, very little disposable income."
