“Warning - SF & APNI will both hit you in your pocket” - Birnie
Esmond Birnie UUP spokesman on Finance and UUP south Belfast candidate
“Now most of the Party manifestos are in it is notable how some of them are calling for what is euphemistically termed ‘tax varying powers’.
“In practice this would mean tax increasing powers, particularly of income tax. Given that Northern Ireland has a lower employment base than the rest of the UK allied to higher demands on social spending, it is hard to see how a devolved government could avoid being forced to raise income tax.
“Sinn Fein and APNI should be honest about how far they want to raise the basic and higher rates of taxation, and at what levels of income these new super Northern Ireland taxes would begin to bite.
“Such proposals are especially ironic in light of the fact that there is no doubt that the economic renaissance in the UK since about 1980, and in the Republic since about 1990, owes at least something to reductions in rates of income tax.”