Preliminary Budget discussion

gandalf

State of Play so far.

* Fuel allowance to rise by €29 a week from January 1st
* Lowest level of social welfare payment to rise to €204.30 per week
* Targeted early retirement scheme for the HSE
* Child benefit for 18-year-olds to cease from 2010
* €400 annual grant for over 70s who do not qualify for automatic medical card
* Social welfare spending to increase by 8.4% to €19.6 billion
* Child benefit to be halved for 18-year-olds from January 1st
* Family income supplement thresholds to rise by €10 per week per child
* Government plans to reduce deficit to 6.5% of GDP in 2009
* Social welfare package of €515 million
* 3.6% increase in gross current spending in 2009
* Unemployment in 2009 to average at 7.3%
* Government to reduce the number of state agencies by 41
* Ministers and some senior civil servants to take 10% pay cut
* Carer's benefit and carer's allowance to rise by €6.50 per week
* Pension to rise by €7 per week
* Inflation to ease to 2.5% on average in 2009
* Automatic entitlement to a medical card for over70s to be abolished
* 1% income levy on earnings up to €100,000, and 2% on earnings over that

Nicked from Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/indepth/budget2009/mainpoints/

Gumbo

8c on petrol!

smashey

The higher rate of VAT up to 21.5%

Tigger

vat

21.5%

from the 1st dec

8c on a litre of petrol
none on diesiel
fill yer tank its starting tonight

Tigger

kceire wrote: »

8c on petrol!

its more because of the vat increase

121 per litre becomes 131.2 because of vat

diesel cars will be even more popular now

kerry4sam

my favourite so far:

Government Ministers and Sec. Generals pay will be reduced by 10% of their total pay every little helps

sovtek

Deleted User wrote: »

If there are even 15,000 of these on the dole,you can be guaranteed that they are costing circa €200 a week including the cost of associated benefits-thats €150 million in a year that could go on social housing for instance and projects that add wealth to the Economy rather than drain it away to Poland and elsewhere.
We are not and never can be of the size of the countries that us Irish went to work in so the it's a bit rich to have limits arguments doesn't apply.

Oh here we go...the "get the foreignors out" was bound to come up sometime.
It's a bit rich to me when Irish people start bitching about immigrants in their country.

Evd-Burner

anything on defence?

smashey

Evd-Burner wrote: »

anything on defence?

Doh.

My bad, I should have posted in AH.

skelliser

tax relief on people who cycle to work!!!!lol!

nialo

HAHA! tax incentive for cycling! what about walking!

Stephen

He's said they're going to close some army barracks but has not mentioned which ones. There's been a lot of talk here in Kilkenny that Stephen's barracks here is for the chop.

mike65

Whoa! He's playing the patriotic card! The scoundrel

Mike

Evd-Burner

What about recruitment?

kerry4sam

http://www.budget.gov.ie/

kerry4sam

Evd-Burner wrote: »

anything on defence?

Stephen wrote: »

He's said they're going to close some army barracks but has not mentioned which ones. There's been a lot of talk here in Kilkenny that Stephen's barracks here is for the chop.

Department of Defence
28.
Longford and Monaghan Barracks, Rockhill House (Letterkenny) and Lifford Military Post will be closed and consolidated into existing Barracks at Finner, Athlone and Dundalk. St. Bricins Hospital, Dublin will also be closed.

Evd-Burner

Wonder will this stall recruitment or not. Hopefully not am looking at joining.

kerry4sam

Evd-Burner wrote: »

Wonder will this stall recruitment or not. Hopefully not am looking at joining.

i'd imagine it would alright...just a matter of how severe...I heard that they had stopped recruiting for the army until 2010 but An G.S. in-takes will just be reduced annually

Orion

In keeping with Gandalf's precedent:

* For cars over 2.5litres and in CO2 bands E, F and G motor tax to rise 5%
* Motor tax up 4% for cars below the 2.5 litre threshold and CO2 bands A to D
* Pension to rise by €7 per week
* Stamp duty on cheques to rise from 30 cents to 50 cents per cent
* Top rate of commercial property stamp duty cut from 9% to 6%
* Increase of 2% in capital gains tax rate
* Automatic entitlement to a medical card for over70s to be abolished
* Fuel allowance increased €2 a week to €20 per week
* Increase in standard rate tax band of €2,000 for a married couple
* Increase in standard rate tax band by €1,000 for a single person
* Duty on wine to increase by 50 cents a litre
* Ministers and some senior civil servants to take 10% pay cut
* Carer's benefit and carer's allowance to rise by €6.50 per week
* €889 million investment for capital education projects
* Standard rate of Vat to increase by 0.5% to 21.5% from December 1st
* €2 billion in tax has to be raised – Lenihan
* €5 million for warmer homes scheme
* €1.65 billion to be spent to housing programmes in 2009
* Government to take an equity share in affordable housing
* €265 million capital investment for third level education projects
* Inflation to ease to 2.5% on average in 2009
* Investment of more than €300 million in science and technology
* €179 million for Science Foundation Ireland
* Decentralisation programme deferred until 2011, pending a review
* Fuel allowance to rise by €29 a week from January 1st
* Lowest level of social welfare payment to rise to €204.30 per week
* State faces the most challenging economic and fiscal situation in a generation – Lenihan
* Targeted early retirement scheme for the HSE
* Child benefit for 18-year-olds to cease from 2010
* €400 annual grant for over 70s who do not qualify for automatic medical card
* Social welfare spending to increase by 8.4% to €19.6 billion
* Child benefit to be halved for 18-year-olds from January 1st
* GDP expected to decline by 1.5% in 2008
* Family income supplement thresholds to rise by €10 per week per child
* Government plans to reduce deficit to 6.5% of GDP in 2009
* Social welfare package of €515 million
* 3.6% increase in gross current spending in 2009
* Unemployment in 2009 to average at 7.3%
* Government to reduce the number of state agencies by 41
* Air travel tax of €10 per passenger, €2 for shorter journeys
* Duty on petrol to rise by 8 cents a litre
* Levy of €200 for car parking provided by employers in major urban areas
* Duty on cigarettes to increase by 50 cents for a packet of 20
* First-time buyers tax relief up from 20% to 25% in years 1 and 2
* 1% income levy on earnings up to €100,000, and 2% on earnings over that

kerry4sam

Defence budget reduced:

2008 - 858,026,000
2009 - 827,479,000

kerry4sam

Garda Siochana Budget decrease:

2008 : 1,546,546,000
2009 : 1,540,342,000

Orion

As a quick fix I'm very surprised he hit petrol and left beer alone. Petrol prices are crazy as it is - and for people without a decent public transport service to work this is another penalty for the failure of the transport system. I expected more on cigarettes tho.

And the levy - that's going to hurt the lower paid the most. So much for his "vulnerable will be protected" statement. That 1% is on your gross pay before allowances.

Akrasia

nhughes100 wrote: »

Then why is binge drinking not a problem in most continental European countries where drink is much cheaper.


Probably because they have a more mature attitude to alcohol, anyway I've been to France, Germany and Holland and beer is easily as expensive in the major cities as it is in Dublin.

In the pubs yeah, but in the shops (they don't have off licences, you can buy drink in practically any corner shop) alcohol is significantly cheaper.

How did they get a 'mature attitude to alcohol' Because they grew up in a less restrictive environment where it wasn't a challenge for teenagers get booze so they can go 'knacker drinking' in fields from the age of 13. That kind of behaviour was socialised, its not inherent.

luckat

Wow, this is going to *smash* the old. Means-testing for medical cards, and a grant of €400 a year for those who aren't eligible.

That means that someone on, say, statins and diabetes medicine (costing about €200 per month) is going to have to pay for it themselves, plus their doctor visits.

If they survive, they can claim it back on their tax the next year.

Kill the old!

nhughes100

Evd-Burner wrote: »

anything on defence?

Yep, All barracks to be reviewed in accordance with the more modern need of the defense forces, in other words expect some closures.

nesf

luckat wrote: »

Wow, this is going to *smash* the old. Means-testing for medical cards, and a grant of €400 a year for those who aren't eligible.

I actually don't have a problem with this in principle so long as the means test is suitably generous. As with a lot of parts of the budget, the verdict should be out until we see actual figures.

Hotblack Desiato

luckat wrote: »

That means that someone on, say, statins and diabetes medicine (costing about €200 per month) is going to have to pay for it themselves, plus their doctor visits.

Isn't diabetes medication free, as it is a designated long-term illness? And there's the drug payment scheme that limits a family's total outlay on medicines in a month. Tbh pensioners have done very well over the last 10 years, and do far better than they would in the UK for instance.

sovtek

sovtek wrote: »

Oh here we go...the "get the foreignors out" was bound to come up sometime.
It's a bit rich to me when Irish people start bitching about immigrants in their country.

We're not a big country.
You support non Irish people who sit on their árses claiming benefits with no intention of doing anything else do you?
Theres a significant number of them.I've no truck with people who come here and EARN a living of which you are one I presume.

I'll tell you one thing,if the millions of Irish over generations that went to the States had to depend on social welfare there to live they'd be dead...
Over here you are costilly well looked after in comparison.

sovtek

Akrasia wrote: »

In the pubs yeah, but in the shops (they don't have off licences, you can buy drink in practically any corner shop) alcohol is significantly cheaper.

Even in the pub it's cheaper. Also you have to take into account the quality you get on the continent as well. A pint of swill costs you at least €4.50 here (Heineken). In Germany you can get a lovely local beer for about €2.50 in most major cities.
Hell even in Texas I can get a 4 pack of Guinness cans (that was shipped from here with all the import duties and local alcohol taxes thrown in) for $5.

djpbarry

gandalf wrote: »

Maybe the ability to quote the correct person you are correcting should be as well

Ah; egg and my face are in alignment .

The offending post has been corrected.

gandalf wrote: »

I find people who resort to correcting peoples spelling to be clutching at straws in their arguments as well.

Easy now. I was bored (and a little drunk). I was lacking the motivation to put together a relevant point. I thought I was being funny. Apparently I wasn't. Apologies for any offence caused to anyone (including Phototoxin).