Sir, - You chastise the Labour Party for not being sufficiently critical of the Budget (Editorial, December 4th). Specifically, you suggest that we should have done more to expose the fact that the lower-paid had not done well. In addition to describing the Budget tax package as one of the most regressive ever, my contribution to the debate concentrated on this particular area. If I may give you a flavour:
"In conjunction with his Budget today the Minister produced some tax tables setting out the benefit for individual taxpayers of the changes he has introduced. These figures are staggering and the Minister should justify them. On a total income of £9,000, a married couple will benefit to the extent of 1.5 per cent of net income - £127. The percentages increase from there. At £50,000 the percentage increase is 3.6 per cent; the actual figure is £1,124.
I have never seen such a regressive list of benefits. The richer one is, the more one benefits; the poorer one is, the less one benefits. Indeed, most of the poor hardly benefit at all."
In light of the above, you might attempt to justify your editorial comment.
It has no basis in reality. You can rest assured that the Labour Party will continue to expose this Budget and its implications both for social justice and our economic performance in the months to come. - Yours, etc.,
From Derek McDowell TD
Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.