Taxation has not increased during the Government's term in office, the Minister for Justice has claimed. Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent, reports.
Responding to Fine Gael's condemnation of the Government's spending record, Mr McDowell told a Progressive Democrats' meeting in Cork last night: "Wages are up €10,000 and tax is down some €300 since the last budget of a Labour/Fine Gael government. During the last general election campaign, Fine Gael promised to spend more than Fianna Fáil and the PDs, he said.
Even though Corporation Tax and Capital Gains Taxes had been cut, multinationals were now contributing nearly 10 per cent of Gross National Product, up from 4.3 per cent in 1997.
On Sunday Fine Gael said billions had been wasted since 1997 on poor management and the recruitment of administrative, rather than front-line staff.
Mr McDowell said: "The document conveys a clear message that much government spending is being wasted and implies that taxation is, therefore, too high. Yet nowhere does the document have the political honesty to assert straight out that spending is too high, or identify where spending could be cut."
Earlier the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said Fine Gael had produced "silly charts" claiming that that money had been squandered.
Fine Gael last night rejected the joint attack. Both men had failed to counter the party's key finding that "we are now paying more tax than under the Rainbow, and that millions of taxpayers' money are being wasted", a Fine Gael spokesperson said.