Just thought I'd remind everyone:
If all public debt disappeared overnight and not one cent of interest had to be paid, the State would still need to borrow about €10 billion annually to meet existing spending commitments. (If the State ends up defaulting – and it may well come to that – the short-term impact would be much reduced if there were no primary deficit. For that reason, it is imperative that the primary deficit be closed as quickly as possible.)
Source:[broken link removed]
The article is behind a paywall, so I can't comment specifically on this. One important point is the issue of borrowings. Does this figure of €10bn annually includes all borrowing and not just the specific spend on public services? So for example, does it include borrowing for roads and other projects?
The details of the fiscal treaty are interesting (all the measures are in the public domain as they're already committed to), but to just aim for no borrowing isn't always a sign of health or a good thing. States will always have to borrow and that's looked upon as a good thing as it demonstrates progression. My reading is that the fiscal measures portay this too.
The ultimate point then is if that €10bn per year is just to run the public sector or if it includes all projects, not all borrowing is bad.
On to the main debate, I'm not in favour of new charges or levies without some "tax neutral" programme in place. However, I've yet to really be convinced by the arguments from the "no" campaign as to why I shouldn't pay. This is some achievement as, being generous here, Hogan has been a disaster at handling this (so much so he may have a career working in PR for BP).
I want the services, whether I use all of them is up to me and or circumstance, chance, accidents and other unknowns, but I want them there and they have to be paid for and to be honest, for this year €2 a week isn't exactly too much.
As always there are issues with the mechanics of this. It should be ring fenced for LAs. The stamp duty issue is a complete red herring, I'm a first time buyer so I never paid it anyway, but I do have to pay management fees for having a house in an estate. As I see it, i'll be double paying for some of the services.