Social Democrats would not cut USC, says Cairns

“A cut in USC will put a few euro of people’s own money back in their pockets and it won’t make the significant difference that people are looking for. We wouldn’t be cutting the USC at this time,” Cairns told reporters at the Social Democrats think-in.

“I think it’s more important to be honest with people than, kind of, promise tax cuts. Fine Gael are the boy who cried wolf on this, continuously promising to abolish the USC and all of these things that have yet to happen.”

Fine Gael notably campaigned for the abolition of the USC in the 2016 General Election and included it in their election manifesto.

“Currently, the Government is signalling there will be a move to cut the USC in the upcoming budget. Finance Minister Michael McGrath confirmed that cuts to the tax are under consideration, adding the primary focus is on people on low and middle incomes.”

Cairns said it was “understandable” that people would have an aversion to paying tax, but stated that public services across Ireland are “threadbare”.

“Our approach is, unashamedly, to build those public services and we think that, if you’re paying taxes then and you see things like genuinely free education, free childcare, all of those things would be the thing that would have an impact.”

The Cork South-West TD said that the USC was one of the more progressive taxes that a government could implement, as it is increases in proportion to how much a person earns.

“If we want to genuinely make Ireland more equal and a nicer place for everyone to live, you have to build those public services – people are sick and tired of hearing about a tax cut, a tax break. What we need is proper public services, and that benefits everybody,” she said.