Brendan Burgess
Founder
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Folks. I merging the forums, I seem to have deleted this discussion. Apologies in particular to SarahMc who had corrected some of my points.
Please post again. Brendan
I sent this question to Today with Sean O'Rourke
From Brendan Burgess, Dublin
I fully support the needs for cuts, and, personally, I would have cut expenditure much more to reduce the deficit quicker.
But I can't see the sense in abolishing Mortgage Interest Supplement . It's great value for the taxpayer and saves them a lot of money.
It is only paid to people who are unemployed or who have incomes under €25k . They can't pay the interest on their mortgage
If it is not paid, these people will be repossessed in time.
And then they will qualify for Rent Supplement or social housing anyway.
Because interest rates are low generally, and especially for 50% of borrowers who have cheap trackers, this is a very cheap way of housing people.
There are some problems with Mortgage Interest Supplement. Like most welfare payments it can become a welfare trap. But it can be reformed to deal with these problems.
It's great value for the taxpayer.
Please post again. Brendan
I sent this question to Today with Sean O'Rourke
From Brendan Burgess, Dublin
I fully support the needs for cuts, and, personally, I would have cut expenditure much more to reduce the deficit quicker.
But I can't see the sense in abolishing Mortgage Interest Supplement . It's great value for the taxpayer and saves them a lot of money.
It is only paid to people who are unemployed or who have incomes under €25k . They can't pay the interest on their mortgage
If it is not paid, these people will be repossessed in time.
And then they will qualify for Rent Supplement or social housing anyway.
Because interest rates are low generally, and especially for 50% of borrowers who have cheap trackers, this is a very cheap way of housing people.
There are some problems with Mortgage Interest Supplement. Like most welfare payments it can become a welfare trap. But it can be reformed to deal with these problems.
It's great value for the taxpayer.