COSTINGS of all tax reforms proposed by the political parties should be carried out before the election by the Economic and Social Research Institute, the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed said yesterday.
Opening its election campaign, the INOU said "none of the proposed reforms will genuinely help unemployed people or the very low paid. Instead there should be a system of tax credits or an increase in personal allowances at the standard rate only.
Every worker would benefit from such a proposal, said the INOU national chairman, Mr Paul Billings, "but the greatest percentage of benefits would go to low-paid workers".
The organisation issued eight demands for any future government. These include calls for greater investment in quality training and the implementation of all the commitments of Partnership 2000 and the National Anti-Poverty Strategy.