Democratic Left's finance spokesman said the rich had done spectacularly well again from the Budget. "Corporation tax is down another 4 per cent in a full year, giving another £132 to the well off," Mr Pat Rabbitte added.
"The better-paid are included in the income tax concessions. The lower rate of corporation tax of 25 per cent now applies to the first £100,000 of profits as distinct from £50,000 heretofore."
There was a new raft of capital allowances, and the date of the duration of certain designated and incentive schemes was extended, while the look-back period for capital acquisition tax could not go beyond 1988, he added.
Mr Rabbitte said the Minister had made a brave effort to reverse his own policy on income tax, giving a break for the first time to the average earner.
"This conversion on the road to Damascus comes from a Minister who boasts early in his script - as he boasted last year - that the agreed FF-PD policy that won a general election was to cut tax rates. He has now deserted that policy and I welcome it."
Describing the social welfare provisions as "pathetic in the context of an economy spilling over with money", Mr Rabbitte said the £3 per week for social welfare recipients was indefensible.
He felt any Budget framed against the background of unprecedented economic growth that did not amount to an assault on poverty was a failure.
