Budget 2011 ideas

Dob74

Denzil2222 wrote: »

This is what i think minister lenihan should do in budget 2011, abolish dole for under 21s, half dole from 21st till 25th birthday, cut child benifit to €100 per child per month and stop it on childs 17th birthday, cut state pension by 6 percent, abolish free tv licence and phone line rental for oaps and others, change medical card limits for over 70s to €450 per week for a single person and €900 for married couple, €10 levy on all new mobile phones, €2 on sim cards, plastic bag tax up to 50 cent per bag, extra €2 on 20 cigs, 51 percent tax rate for people earning over 300k, income levys up to 3, 6, and 9 percent.

The licence fee is to high to begin with. Why should we pay a massive fee to support RTE's over paid staff. I say no fee or no adds to RTE you cant have it both ways

the groutch

it's not the tax credits per se, it's all the loopholes and tax-breaks that the super-rich use to avoid paying any tax that is the problem

Seth Brundle

But closing tax loopholes wouldn't happen straight away so no real saving there

Dob74

kbannon wrote: »

But closing tax loopholes wouldn't happen straight away so no real saving there

But it would close the defeict in the public finances alot quicker. Getting sticker on off shore residency rules would net a nice wedge of cash immediatly

Seth Brundle

Many tax loopholes are allowed to be phased out over several years so there wouldn't be any immediate difference

Sikie

Why not turn the basis of property taxation to energy efficiency.

Flat Tax based on the energy rating

We have a method and a structure set up to do BERs

A date is set at a point in the future say June 2012 where ever property in the state must have a BER rating.

From Sep 2012 each property must remit a tax based on their energy rating. An "A" rating means low tax with the tax increasing as energy efficiency drops.

There is an incentive to improve energy rating that will reduce your tax bill

This would purposefully put people back working with a long term aim to reduce the countries energy requirement.

More BER assessors required immediately ( Oppurtunties for building industry professional who can be trained quickly on this area)

The incentive to reduce your tax bill would put builders back to work doing labour intensive building upgrade work across the country

I am sure some sort of exemptions could be added for "special cases"

Unfortunately for many more recent buildings it may also seem like re-working something you thought you had already but we need something to inject a need for a lot of labour quickly in the economy and I don't thing infrastructure is the way to do this.

Nolanger

Introduce a licence fee to keep all pet animals.

Jesus Wept

changes wrote: »

1. Transfer staff from overstaffed government depts to a new and ruthless social welfare fraud dept that comes under the overall control of the Gardai.

2. Tax rise on all alcohol sold in of licences and supermarkets.

3. Major cut in politicians income and expenses as an important gesture.

4. Cut child benefit completely for those earning more than 100K

5. Charge all Medical Card holders €5 per doctor visit

6. 1 cent on text messages

7. 3rd rate of tax on earnings in excess of 50K

8. Cut dole for all by 5%

9. Cut OAP by 5%

Do the emails while you're at it.
:rolleyes:

Might start breeding carrier pigeons, it's the wave of the future.

dermo88

One equitable option that can be considered is introducing a residential land tax allowance. This will cater for the property tax issue which has arisen lately.

It would replace the bin charges, water rates, and other local authority stealth charges, and consolidate them all under one bill.

It would also ensure that those with least pay least, or nothing at all.

It would be banded, but fairer than the British council tax system, since it would be a "weighted" calculation based on several factors.

(a)

It would be based on the number of people owning/living the property. Say, 10 square meters for the first person, 5 square meters for the second person, 20 Square meters for a couple.....and the surplus taxed.

It COULD (finally) have the effect of 'smoothing' out boom-busts driven by conglomerates and speculators.

I would propose 5 Euro per annum per Square meter of developed residential land. BUT.

(b) Instead of mortgage interest relief coming from income tax, that is now TRANSFERRED over to this.

(c) The second part of the weighting relates to the equity (net value of the building, relative to the mortgage). This would rise over the life of the property/mortgage, depending on how much remains outstanding on the mortgage. This would be 0.1 eurocent per Euro (1/1000), so someone with a 300,000 Euro property would pay 300 Euro on this aspect. This helps ensure that rural dwellers are treated slightly better than urban dwellers and helps diffuse the political nonsense that emanates from the West.

Finally.....

RETRIBUTION for those who caused the crisis. Not only must justice be done, justice must be seen to be done.

Aard

changes wrote: »

That is the difficulty with a property tax, base it on house size suits the city people because they will have smaller houses, base it on house value suits the rural dwellers as their houses will be worth less.

Then base the property tax on both. Half of it derived from land value, and half from land area. It's win-win, so to speak.

Aard

the groutch wrote: »

it's not the tax credits per se, it's all the loopholes and tax-breaks that the super-rich use to avoid paying any tax that is the problem

The top 30% of earners pay two-thirds of all income tax. That's higher than in all other European countries. The rich do pay tax here.

bamboozle

how about we introduce a new tax rate of 65% on any income earned by people who are in receipt of a pension.
there are far too many 'retired' hse workers, teachers, nurses, guards, ex irish army & navy etc who took early retirement yet are still working part time covering illness & maternity leave.
any vacancies coming up should be made available to the many hundreds of qualified teachers coming out of college who cannot get jobs.

Grants to Horse Racing Ireland, Greyhound Ireland, RTE, Artists exemption should all be drastically reduced and savings reallocated to boost industries such as renewables & construction.

Govt is spending ridiculous amounts in renting prefabs to act as class rooms, we talk about a knowledge/smart economy yet our kids are being educated in wooden huts which our idiotic govt have paid their cronies millions every year to provide. this needs to stop.

Aard

When I was younger I was taught that you got paid a pension when you stopped working. It still makes no sense to me that pensions are paid to people either under the age of 65, or who still have jobs.

Nasty_Girl

gurramok wrote: »

How is that societys problem?

If you have kids, look after them. When they reach 18, why should a parent have the strain to feed them?

They should get out and find a job, their adults now. Time to fly the nest and support yourself.

Where are these jobs?

Dob74

Aard wrote: »

The top 30% of earners pay two-thirds of all income tax. That's higher than in all other European countries. The rich do pay tax here.

Income tax is only a third of the tax take. VAT generates almost the same income as income tax. So the person on the dole is actually paying tax when they buy there fags and booze. So everyone is paying tax not just income tax.

the groutch

Aard wrote: »

The top 30% of earners pay two-thirds of all income tax. That's higher than in all other European countries. The rich do pay tax here.

but the top 1% pay little or none

jimmycrackcorm

Change the travel tax. Subsidize incoming return flights and charge an increased tax on other outgoing flights to balance. Start a newspaper campaign thanking Micheal O'Leary for pointing out how revenue was lost to tourism because of the travel tax and this is the result.

gurramok

Nasty_Girl wrote: »

Where are these jobs?

There were plenty of jobs up until about 2 yrs ago. Made no difference to them. Maybe throw them on work education courses on condition they fly out on their own. Helping self motivation and all that.

Its not up to society to be a nanny state for 18yr old adults who just sit on their ass all day.

bamboozle

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Change the travel tax. Subsidize incoming return flights and charge an increased tax on other outgoing flights to balance. Start a newspaper campaign thanking Micheal O'Leary for pointing out how revenue was lost to tourism because of the travel tax and this is the result.

the govt/dept of tourism/irish tourist board should target countries like Oz, New Zealand, America and rich asian countries with highly subsidised flights, target wealthy pensioners to come here as long stay tourists (ie when travelling this far they'd be likely to stay 10 days minimum)
other incentives while their here such as free travel for those over 65

we need to do whatever we can to bring new revenue into the state.

dvpower

Aard wrote: »

When I was younger I was taught that you got paid a pension when you stopped working. It still makes no sense to me that pensions are paid to people either under the age of 65, or who still have jobs.

State pensions don't get paid to people under 65.
Whatever private financial arrangements anyone else makes shouldn't be any of the Government's business.
In fact, the government benefits from people who draw an early pension, as tax is paid on the annuity income.

dvpower

the groutch wrote: »

but the top 1% pay little or none

The tax loopholes should and are being closed, mainly by putting a limit on the total amounts that can be avoided from loopholes.
But this represents a tiny amount of money in the scheme of things.

Count Dooku

bamboozle wrote: »

we need to do whatever we can to bring new revenue into the state.

is it only because state will be not able to pension to Pat Neary, Rody Molloy, high salaries to fat cats in state bodies and countless quangos and bailout Sean Fitzpatrick family?
Why not to cut waste first?

ei.sdraob

the groutch wrote: »

but the top 1% pay little or none

[citation needed]

Nasty_Girl

gurramok wrote: »

There were plenty of jobs up until about 2 yrs ago.

There aren't now which is the problem. So where is an 18 year old who along with nearly 60,000 others who left school this year getting jobs today in 2010?

gurramok wrote: »

Made no difference to them.

To some yes but not all.

gurramok wrote: »

Maybe throw them on work education courses on condition they fly out on their own. Helping self motivation and all that.

Who pays for this?
What type of education courses?
How does it differ from the FAS course and WPP scheme?
How long will it last and what sectors will it cover?
Who is eligible?
Will it teach them enough to actually be productive or will they have to resort to unpaid internships in order to get the experience needed for the highly skilled job vacancies out there? If so, how do they exist while doing the internships?
And on that note what vacancies does Ireland have and need?
Will they all just set up their own businesses and hope to tap into Ireland's tiny cash strapped consumer base?

gurramok wrote: »

Its not up to society to be a nanny state for 18yr old adults who just sit on their ass all day.

Totally agree but there's no point saying "they should go find jobs" when there are hardly any for people who just left school in 2010.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I'm not sure if it's been put forward but...

Why not scrap Gift/Inheritance Tax for a year?

A large proportion of the older generation have large sums of cash sitting idle in bank accounts. Allow them to 'gift' a tax free lump sum to their children.
The younger generation are more likely to spend it.

Triangle

kingambrose wrote: »

I'm not sure if it's been put forward but...

Why not scrap Gift/Inheritance Tax for a year?

A large proportion of the older generation have large sums of cash sitting idle in bank accounts. Allow them to 'gift' a tax free lump sum to their children.
The younger generation are more likely to spend it.

I like this.

On the property Tax issue, I understand the benefits to moving towards this system. But my main problem with it is the stamp duty all home owners have paid.
lets say i bought a house today and paid 30K stamp on it, next year the gov decide to abolish stamp duty and make people pay property taxed. I'd be doubly screwed. This thinking would also put off people thinking about buying houses at the moment.

gurramok

Nasty_Girl wrote: »

There aren't now which is the problem. So where is an 18 year old who along with nearly 60,000 others who left school this year getting jobs today in 2010?

Alot probably won't straight out of school hence they should try to further their education or go the enforced by FF emigration route. They can fly the nest on both instances instead of sitting at home waiting on a job to appear.

Nasty_Girl wrote: »

Who pays for this?
What type of education courses?
How does it differ from the FAS course and WPP scheme?
How long will it last and what sectors will it cover?
Who is eligible?
Will it teach them enough to actually be productive or will they have to resort to unpaid internships in order to get the experience needed for the highly skilled job vacancies out there? If so, how do they exist while doing the internships?
And on that note what vacancies does Ireland have and need?
Will they all just set up their own businesses and hope to tap into Ireland's tiny cash strapped consumer base?

Besides the existing opportunities, student loans for further education and workplace experience(needs govt push here) would help. Better than getting money in hand from welfare for sitting at home drinking it.

Nasty_Girl wrote: »

Totally agree but there's no point saying "they should go find jobs" when there are hardly any for people who just left school in 2010.

They shouldn't be given high welfare at home while others their age go out and help themselves. If their parents refuse to feed them at 18, not my problem. (which is a ludicrous assumption of a parent neglecting their offspring)

Nasty_Girl

gurramok wrote: »

Besides the existing opportunities, student loans for further education and workplace experience(needs govt push here) would help. Better than getting money in hand from welfare for sitting at home drinking it.

Well I'm divided on student loans as on one hand I look on it as an investment, the person gets an education and can pay more taxes while repaying their loan but on the other it is adding to the culture of borrowing that got us into this mess to begin with.

And even if they get the loan, what about 20000 people who missed out on CAO places this year?
http://www.eecho.ie/news/ireland/cao-expects-20000-to-miss-out-on-college-places-471855.html

I guess they'll just have to all emigrate for a year or two ... where to I wonder

Bersouth

number10a wrote: »

Introduce a change to dole/sickness benefit whereby you have to have worked for at least two years before you are eligible for anything. There are too many people who treat the dole as a career. I find it strange that a citizen from another EU state has to do this, yet I could have just finished school/college and walked straight in the door of the SW office. We make non-Irish people contribute to the economy for two years before they're entitled to anything, so we should do the same for Irish people.

Sell off the public transport companies. They cost too much money to run, unions love threatening strike because they're essentially State workers so they can get away with it, and if public transport was privately run, it would be far more efficient.

Not a budget thing, but allowing pubs to open 24 hours would mean more revenue from Irish people who stay out longer, and more tourists would be inclined to come here too. I imagine many people are put off coming here if they find out pubs close at 12:30 at weekends.

Seriously scale back the defence forces. We're not even UN-peacekeeping at the moment.

Introduce a tax on the old-style inefficient lightbulbs. Raises money and encourages people to buy the energy efficient ones.

Abolish the €10 flight tax. €10 is a lot for a European flight, considering you can go almost anywhere in Europe for €60, so it's a deciding factor when people are booking their holidays - e.g. Ireland €70 vs. Italy €60, which would you choose if you live in sunny Belgium??

I don't know how it can be done, but surely some mathematical/economic expert can work out how to make it 99% certain that you can't earn more on SW than working. At the same time, something needs to be done so that you can take up a part-time job that pays less than the dole and that you're not punished financially for doing so.

That whole 0% tax on artists thing - lower the earning limit from €250,000 to €100,000. At present, if you earn less than 250k it 0% tax, over 250K only half of your income is counted for tax purposes. Change this to something like 80%, or even scrap it altogether.

€110 million on forestry - need I say more. Trees can grow unaided. Plant them and leave them off for 30/40 years.

Contributing money to fee-paying schools should be scrapped.

With UK VAT going up to 20% in January, lower ours to match to try to discourage cross-border shopping. It will not make things the same price as in NI, but it will do something to help.

A wealth tax for those who earn fèck all but have millions stashed away. At the same time, some measures will be needed to ensure that the tax isn't too much to make everyone run for Switzerland, or else some measures to make offshore holdings illegal (not sure if they are or not already).

Do not touch corporation tax.

Agree with most, but the forestery issue you need to think it through more, what are the landowners to live on while the trees take 30/40 years to mature

Aard

dvpower wrote: »

The tax loopholes should and are being closed, mainly by putting a limit on the total amounts that can be avoided from loopholes.
But this represents a tiny amount of money in the scheme of things.

What kinds of loopholes are these? (Genuine question)