Labour tax proposal targets women voters

The Labour Party would roll back "individualisation" in the tax system, its finance spokeswoman, Joan Burton, said yesterday. Ms Burton, who was speaking at the launch in Dublin of Labour's "Why Women Should Vote Labour" campaign, said individualisation had "gone too far".

The introduction of a single standard rate band for each taxpayer in 1999 - eg, to tax every worker individually - has been credited with greatly reducing the tax burden on young, unmarried workers and two-income families. Ms Burton said yesterday that Labour believed the trend had shifted too far against single-income families and this was forcing women out to work.

"Labour's policies are about allowing families to make choices about childcare. We believe the current policy of individualisation has gone too far. A single-income family where one parent stays at home to care for children will pay up to €6,000 more in tax on the same income as a double-income couple," she said.

"Labour proposes to change this and I am delighted that Labour's proposals to increase the home carer's credit - currently at €770 - to the same level as the PAYE credit of €1,760, is paralleled by the Fine Gael proposals in this area."

The chair of Labour Women, Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin, said women could play a key role in the election if they voted in a way that focused on their concerns.

"If women don't highlight issues or approaches that are important to them, the danger is that the political parties don't highlight them either."

She said Labour Women had reviewed all aspects of the party's manifesto to ensure that women's concerns were acknowledged. Among the issues she said the party would be addressing were ending domestic violence, improving childcare, providing good quality public transport and ending discrimination.

"We have the track record to show that Labour is the party for women. Women have to make sure their vote is a vote to make their voices heard," she said.

Joe Costello, party spokesman on defence and European affairs, said feedback the party received indicated women wanted more community gardaí. He said until there were more gardaí, women in particular would "never feel secure". "We also want to see more women working as community gardaí," he said.