NoRegretsCoyote
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Hi Coyote
The "how soon" is very difficult to answer. But we must start cutting it now while we are in such a temporarily healthy economy. It's clear that we could not get back to the €50 billion of debt we had in 2007 in ten years.
But we should realise that we cannot continue to increase it every year because our economy is artificially growing.
This has been the problem in the debate. Almost everyone agrees with the Fiscal Council, but no one will specify how the cuts will be made.
I'd make all forms of welfare payment taxable. That way those on low incomes are not affected but those on high incomes are. I'd also get rid of the under 6 and over 70's medical cards, replacing them with a means tested equivalent.Thanks Brendan. It would be great if you could specify how soon you want to get to €50bn and how.
I've said fiscal balance should be about 3bn greater at the moment. Personally I would get there by raising LPT, increasing VAT on some low- and non-rated items, reducing child benefit, cutting subsidies to universities (make them raise fees), and increasing employers' PRSI by a few pp.
Why not? If you are single and get €325 a week in welfare you wouldn't pay any tax on it anyway.I wouldn't make welfare taxable
How about just get everyone to pay an effective rate of more than 10%?Increase Corporation Tax rates.
If, as has been suggested elsewhere, that CT are artificially high and not sustainable in the long run, then taking advantage of high amounts of corporate profits being registered here would make sense. A €bn or two extra could be collected each year for paying down national debt.
Ireland's CT is purportedly highly competitive, there is room to increase it.
As somebody working in IT I really think the government should consider scrapping the NBP in favour of one of the new high-speed satellite broadband providers as per articles like this - https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/time-to-rethink-national-broadband-plan-1.3878881. SpaceX have already launched their first satellites, the government could approach them and do a deal to subsidise access for rural users. No upfront expenditure, clear costs from the offset, similar if not better performance. No brainer for me.Scrap the national broadband plan, or cap its budget at enough to reach 95% of the population.
As somebody in this position, I'd agree a change here is required. Personally I'd be in favour of simplifying the whole thing by just getting rid of the self-employed PRSI category and make us pay what everybody else does, including the higher employer contributions, but give us the same benefits. These safety nets encourage people to take the leap and start new businesses which is really important.Self-employed who pay 4% PRSI should not get the contributory pension.
In economic discussions, I wonder why we always think of ways of cutting things rather than ways of creating income.
The thread title is very clear
Proposed spending cuts and tax increases
- replace JSA with a guaranteed job offer to everybody on JSA
- stricter on DA, as the numbers on DA keep rising
Curtail many tax reliefs, especially those used by higher earners, indeed abolish many of these schemes altogether.
Some of these ideas are not feasible:
In what workplace? Who will pay for it? Will it make any difference to an unemployed person's skills?
DA inevitably rises as the working-age population grows older. There have been no changes in eligibility criteria in recent years.
It getting a State pension that you haven't paid for not the same thing really? Private pension relief is deferred taxation. A State pension that you contribute almost nothing to is just dipping your hand into someone else's pocket. What's the difference?The biggest income tax relief is of course on private pensions. There are very good reasons for not taxing pensions on the way in, but only on the way out.
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