The Minister has demonstrated to us tonight his rare imaginative capacity in that he was unable to widen the 35 per cent tax band so that people would not enter the 45 per cent tax band so quickly. We are disappointed that the Minister found it necessary to introduce a top rate of 65 per cent. There should have been some provision in the budget to lighten the load of the PAYE taxpayer.
The proposal which was made in the Dáil and rejected would have cost £50 million, which is half of 1 per cent of the total expenditure in the budget. The Minister should find a way to give some encouragement to the PAYE sector. We did not put down recommendations to this section because we are mindful of the overall financial position but I ask the Minister to see what he can do to reduce the burden on the PAYE sector. The fact that the proposal made in the Dáil represents half of 1 per cent of the total budgetary provision must leave him in a position to make some adjustment.
As regards public expenditure, is it true that there are a number of State Departments and semi-State companies who have leased office blocks and have not occupied them? I believe there is a considerable sum of money being spent on this by the Government which should be avoided since they are cutting back on public expenditure. Has this anything to do with the developments in relation to disturbance money? In the last few years we have seen major scandals in relation to agreements being reached on the question of moving from old dilapidated premises into luxurious offices. These agreements have cost substantial sums of money. Taxpayers feel a sense of grievance that such luxurious offices are only occupied after strenuous negotiations which sometimes take years to finalise and cost substantial sums of money which cannot be justified.