Labour will vigorously oppose the Finance Bill due to be published on Wednesday as it seems likely to contain a time extension of a set of property based Tax Shelters which are creating unacceptable levels of inequity and unfairness in the income tax code.

One the one hand the Bill will allow very wealthy people the opportunity to reduce their tax exposure through these shelters. At the same time it will deny modest income earners a fair indexation of the income threshold at which they start to pay the higher tax rate. On this anomaly alone the Bill deserves to fail.

There are other concerns too.

We still recall with fury the sordid sleight of hand by the Government last year when an important amendment was presented to the Dail literally in the in the last 5 minutes of the final stage of the Dail debate on the Bill.

Through this amendment a tax shelter of enormous importance was created to benefit the promoters of a private hospital. No proper scrutiny of the measure itself or of the identity of the beneficiaries was possible through the crude use by FF-PD Ministers of the parliamentary guillotine.

The public finances will lose tens of millions from this concession according to Department estimates.

This week I want a categorical “what we will see is what we will get” assurance from the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. Every clause of the Bill must get due Dail scrutiny in the House itself or in the Finance Committee and I am demanding a promise there will be no last minute deals or amendments.

The headline measures in this week’s Bill will concern the proposed tax reliefs to stimulate R and D activity in Ireland. Our current low corporation tax laws actually act as a disincentive to the location of R and D activity here and in general I support the general principle of new incentives in order to promote knowledge-based enterprises.

However I propose to examine the fine print of every clause the Minister will propose so that this new heading does not become a tax avoidance charter for all and sundry. The tax relief must be specific and focussed on this sector only and contain strict anti avoidance measures.

In the Budget the Minister indicated he would seek to extend the time-span of many existing tax shelters that were due to end this year.

I will be opposing these extensions if they feature in the Finance Bill on Wednesday.. They have served their economic purpose and now only act as a series of tax avoidance routes for many very wealthy individuals. The research by the Revenue Commissioners last year has demonstrated how widespread the use of these tax shelters is and their effect in severely reducing the tax exposure of the wealthy. The Minister flagged some time ago his intention to dismantle them in 2004 and his decision to abandon this timetable is regressive and contrary to sound principles of tax equity.

Tax Avoidance has become a colossal industry in Ireland. It employs an army of accountants, lawyers and consultants and this Minister’s Finance Acts have given them an unprecedented licence to ply their trade in a manner that has come to exasperate the compliant PAYE taxpayer.

Another item of tax injustice arises from the Minister’s failure in the Budget to properly index the standard rate tax band for 2 year in a row. He will be seeking legislative approval of this in the Bill but will face relentless objection from Labour on this.

It is a serious breach of faith with the majority of taxpayers to force more than 50% of PAYE earners into the higher rate band in this way. It is stealth taxation of the most unjust kind. Every FF and PD deputy has to tell their PAYE voters how they stand on this.

I can promise Minister McCreevy a robust few weeks ahead.