Leo Varadkar’s latest interview suggests tax increases on the horizon

He also said he considers the minimum wage to be middle class...

After it was much publicised that former Taoiseach Enda Kenny turned down all invitations to appear on TV3's show Tonight with Vincent Browne, new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar accepted his invite in the second last edition of show last night. In a wide ranging interview where housing, health and others were discussed, Varadkar did not rule out tax hikes in upcoming budgets. “Tax revenues are up. Not as much as we thought they would be but they're up, because there are more people working and there are more people earning more and more people spending more in the economy,” he said. He made reference to fiscal space in budgetary planning before adding: “I don’t rule out raising some taxes into the future.” During the interview, Varadkar also strongly hinted that he's considering a tax on vacant houses. “There are a lot of vacant properties in the country,” he said. “Some of them could be renovated and brought into use.” “Some could be purchased and I think we need to impose penalties on people who leave hoses vacant in areas where there is very high demand for housing and those homes should be in use.” While some people hoped for fireworks on the show, it was clear quite early on that the beneath it all, the pair like each other. Varadkar paid tribute to the veteran journalist for his his work over the years for making "politicians squirm", being "tough but fair" and asking the questions that "other journalists would never ask". In response, Browne reminisced about an early interview involving the pair where the Varadkar admitted he was wrong about a point he made, and Browne remarked on how that moment had struck him. https://twitter.com/TonightWithVinB/status/890346537439645700