Government must rethink tax hikes - Mayo Aontú representative
TAX hikes are driving inflation and government needs to have a rethink, says Mayo Aontú representative Paul Lawless.
He set out: “The government are driving an increase in the cost of living. Hikes in excise on fuel this week, with additional carbon taxes in October and increases in VAT in the hospitality sector are making living more expensive.
“The public need no reminder of the difficult cost of living crisis we find ourselves in. Sadly, our government are so disconnected from this reality that they need to be reminded that this move will only serve to escalate inflation even further.
“From today the excise on petrol and diesel prices go up by 7c and 5c per litre respectively. This is in addition to the upcoming October carbon tax hike of 8c on petrol and 6c on diesel.
“This will have a ripple effect on goods sold everywhere. When you walk into your supermarket all the food and goods in stock have to be delivered by lorries. In previous tax hikes we have already seen these costs passed on to the customer.”
Mr. Lawless continued: “In a time of an inflation emergency it beggars belief why our government would use such a time to introduce such hikes. In an emergency you don't introduce measure to exacerbate the crisis. They are elected instead to find solutions.
“Outrageously, this is not the only inflation incurring measure we will see passed on to business and consequently customers. The hospitality sector will also find their VAT rates increased back to 13.5%, pushing the prices of eating out and staying in hotels and B&Bs to levels beyond the increases they have been forced to charge due to costs increases in recent years.
“I am calling on TDs and councillors of the government parties to lobby their party leaders and ministers to re-think this regressive measure. The Irish public cant afford these moves and neither can our local economy.
“In a time to find solutions to existing problems we cannot have our government instead create new problems.”