THE Labour party should drop its claim for a three-point rise in the universal social charge (USC) for high earners and work instead to push up the overall tax take in next year’s budget, Joan Burton, Labour deputy leader has said.
The social protection minister said Labour had secured a number of key concessions on spending cuts and tax increases from their Fine Gael government partners in the budget negotiations.
But it should drop its demand for a higher USC rate for those earning more than €100,000 and focus instead on removing property- and pension-related tax reliefs in the 2014 budget, she said.
Asked if Labour had made a mistake in allowing an expectation to build around an increase in USC to 10% for high