The Justice Commission of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) has called for an increase in the lowest social welfare payment by at least €12 a week for a single person and €20 for a couple in the forthcoming Budget.
In its pre-Budget submission, CORI says that Budget 2004 should give priority to tackling the widening rich/poor gap and the deficits in Ireland's infrastructure and social provision.
A society is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable people, and by this measurement Ireland is failing dismally, said CORI.
The CORI submission makes proposals on how the State's total tax-take could be moved closer to the EU average but without increasing income tax.
It recommends that corporation tax be increased to 17 per cent, capital gains tax be raised and that the levy on financial institutions be added to.
Carbon taxes should also be introduced and tax on wealth (e.g. DIRT) be increased, said CORI.
The tax-take on property should also be raised through a land rent tax for instance.
It further notes that "Ireland takes a far higher proportion of its taxes from income tax (31.4 per cent) compared to the EU (25.5 per cent).
On the other hand Ireland takes only 12.9 per cent of its total tax-take in social security taxes (PRSI) compared to an EU average of 28.6 per cent."
A rebalancing towards EU levels would be welcome, it says.
It points out that "making the current income tax credits refundable would result in most of the benefit going to the poorest 30 per cent of income earners" and should be introduced in the next Budget as those in the lowest paid jobs and outside the tax net do not gain from annual budget changes currently.
It points out that priority should be given to this adjustment as, while welcoming the objective of taking everyone on the minimum wage out of the tax net, "the benefit of such a move would go mostly to the better-off 60 per cent of the population."
