Government should start another SSIA

Yeah, they should promise to do it if they get re-elected. Like they've promised the top rate will come down another point.

Greatest savings scheme in the history of the world in little old Ireland.
 
Would sort out inflation too i'd imagine. Should rally the idea to Bertie and the Boys for the next election
 
Fair dues to [SIZE=-1]Charlie McCreevy who was treacherously stabbed in the back by them.

 It's a no-brainer really. I hope they're keeping it in reserve for the last few weeks of the election.
Otherwise not offering this bribe should be punished by the electorate. Too bad Fine Gael are an
embarrassment and most of the rest are a bunch of extremist nut jobs.

Looks like we're stuck with them SSIA or no.
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It's the biggest con job I have ever seen in my life. I contributed the max amount each month, and have just received a cheque a bit short of E20K. Big deal.

Over the past 5 years I saved E16k out of my own after tax money. The Govt have attempted to buy the next election by getting the Dept of Finance to give me back E4k of my own money. This money was stopped off me in taxes.

E4,000 over 5 years = E15.38 euros per week. What would you get for that? Nearly 4 pints of beer.

Their generosity is completely underwhelming.

I would contribute to another SSIA scheme, but maybe they could give me something more worthwhile, say E100 pw. Whack another euro or two on the price of a packet of fags to pay for it. Now that would be something.

A tax on stupidity.

Murt
 
Glad you think it is so miserly Murt10. Shouldn't be any problem for them to do it then.
People that ramped up their payments towards the end are presumably cleverer than us
then rather than just not so good at managing their personal finances.

On the simple basis of establishing a savings habit it seems to have succeeded. Although
curbing inflation is often stated as a reason for the first SSIA I believe this isn't one of the
official reasons it was started.
 
Well they have managed to cough up €180b for some other probably poorly thought out projects that will cost a forture & probably not work anyways.... so yes it would be worth doing another one for sure.

ninsaga
 
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i'd prefer them to lower taxes and avoid the subterfuge and additional bureacracy that all government initiatives inevitable lead to, plus I'm sick of the media hype etc.
 
If the government wants to give tax breaks then they should do so more equitably through the general tax system rather than through sporadic savings schemes that arguably favour the better off who can afford to avail of them.
 
ClubMan said:
If the government wants to give tax breaks
Click to expand...

Who mentioned tax breaks? One didn't have to be a tax paying member of society to avail of the existing SSIA scheme.

Marion
 
Charlie McCreevy always stated that the reason for the introduction of the scheme was to foster a culture of savings. That goal has definitely been achieved. Many/most of us have benefitted from it

What I would like to see is the scheme to continue so that those who didn't get an opportunity to benefit would be able to do so. One example would be those who were 17 at the time and who are now 22. They were not eligible under the rules of the scheme.

Everybody should be given one opportunity to foster the savings habit with a little bit of incentivisation from the Government.

Marion
 
Is there any hard data available on this 'culture of savings'? How much of the SSIA savings were simply redirected from other investments (like mine)?

This scheme expanded the gap between the better off (who could afford to contribute such schemes) and the worse off (who are wondering which moneylender can they fend off this week, not which fund to invest their SSIA in)? No future goverment should continue this scheme.
 
Marion said:
Who mentioned tax breaks? One didn't have to be a tax paying member of society to avail of the existing SSIA scheme.
Click to expand...
The SSIA topup was given as an at source tax credit that benefited all participants whether they paid tax or not. As such discussion of the wider tax system is certainly relevant to any discussion of SSIA style approaches to refunding tax. I believe that there are better and more equitable ways to equalise or reduce the tax burden on a wider range of people than through SSIA style tax credits. One could also argue that encouraging longer term savings such as pensions (e.g. by further simplifying the rules/tax treatment and maybe enhancing the relief) might be more of a priority than shorter term savings such as the SSIA scheme targeted.
 
RainyDay said:
Is there any hard data available on this 'culture of savings'? How much of the SSIA savings were simply redirected from other investments (like mine)?

This scheme expanded the gap between the better off (who could afford to contribute such schemes) and the worse off (who are wondering which moneylender can they fend off this week, not which fund to invest their SSIA in)? No future goverment should continue this scheme.
Click to expand...

Agreed, though I didn't avail of it due to the inability (at the time) to redirect other investments...
 
RainyDay said:
This scheme expanded the gap between the better off (who could afford to contribute such schemes) and the worse off (who are wondering which moneylender can they fend off this week...No future goverment should continue this scheme.
Click to expand...

In fairness the same could be said of practically every tax relief, and indeed every government initiative. It could be argued for example that the opening of the Luas has widened the gap between rich and poor because there are always those who can't afford the fares. However it would not be sensible to abandon the Luas on these grounds. Similarly the present SSIA scheme, and any proposal for future schemes, should be judged on their own merits and not solely on the basis that they will not be available to all of the people all of the time.
 
I liked the SSIA - at least the SSIA was available to a lot of people and wasn't one of those incentives/tax breaks that completely favoured the very wealthy such as the property incentives.
 
Don't forget that pension tax/PRSI relief is pretty generous and open to all taxpayers.
 
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