“On May 6th 11 other EU countries plan to announce a Financial Transaction Tax but Ireland is not among them. Independent Think-Tank TASC estimate a financial transaction tax could raise €500 million, which could cancel the cost of the proposed water tax at €537 million”, said Richard Boyd Barrett, PBPA director of elections.
Cllr Brid Smith, People Before Profit Dublin Euro candidate said, “The Labour Party in particular has a simple choice – tax the bankers or tax ordinary workers more. They could scrap the water tax and tax the speculators who caused the economic crash instead. Labour and FG have no problem taxing transactions, ordinary shopping transactions are taxed at 23% VAT. Why can’t they put a similar tiny tax on speculators’ transactions?”
Tina MacVeigh, local election candidate in the Dublin Crumlin-Kimmage area said: “It’s time we made the bankers pay for the misery they have caused to millions of lives across Europe. Not a single banker has been jailed because of the economic crisis they caused. Sean Fitzpatrick and the Anglo banksters have walked away unscathed. Meanwhile 411 people went to jail last year for not being able to afford the TV license. A financial transaction tax is a small way to make the bankers pay for the misery they caused.”