Where does you tax go? [accurate?]

Dannyboy83

Sorry if this has already been posted, didn't find anything via forum search.

With regard to this link:
http://www.publicpolicy.ie/where-does-your-tax-go/

How accurate are the breakdowns?
Just a very rough guide? Or actually reasonably accurate?

Scortho

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

Sorry if this has already been posted, didn't find anything via forum search.

With regard to this link:
http://www.publicpolicy.ie/where-does-your-tax-go/

How accurate are the breakdowns?
Just a very rough guide? Or actually reasonably accurate?

It was posted in ah!

Don't know how accurate it is though.
Seems to be a lot going to people for there 100th birthday!

Sheldons Brain

Whatever about the proportions of expenditure, it is somewhat misleading as it shows taxes as income tax only. A significant part of government expenditure is funded by other taxes, by charges, and by borrowing.

Scortho

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

Whatever about the proportions of expenditure, it is somewhat misleading as it shows taxes as income tax only. A significant part of government expenditure is funded by other taxes, by charges, and by borrowing.

I'd love to know where all motor tax collected goes.
Just to see how much goes towards the maintainence of roads and motor related services.

Cormac OSullivan

I'm the brains behind the app, so if you have any questions feel free to ask away.


On the accuracy of the breakdowns, most of the data comes from The Revised Estimates, which is the official government estimate of expenditure: http://per.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/REVISED-ESTIMATES-VOLUME-2013-final.pdf

On the tax side, Sheldons Brain is of course correct that income taxes do not fund the entirety of government expenditure. The slider in the app allows you to adjust how much tax you think you pay, so you can add in other things like property tax, VAT, Excise Duties etc. Unfortunately, I can't tell a user how much they pay in taxes.

sarumite

Scortho wrote: »

I'd love to know where all motor tax collected goes.
Just to see how much goes towards the maintainence of roads and motor related services.

All of it goes into the central tax repository and from there money is apportioned to different services, including maintaining roads. It is specifically called motor tax and not road tax as it is not destined for maintaining roads and is considered another form of revenue for the government akin to any other tax.

johnnyskeleton

Scortho wrote: »

It was posted in ah!

Don't know how accurate it is though.
Seems to be a lot going to people for there 100th birthday!

Does that mean we have to be more reasoned and less inflammatory here?

Scortho

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Does that mean we have to be more reasoned and less inflammatory here?

According to scofflaws charter yes!:(

Scortho

sarumite wrote: »

All of it goes into the central tax repository and from there money is apportioned to different services, including maintaining roads. It is specifically called motor tax and not road tax as it is not destined for maintaining roads and is considered another form of revenue for the government akin to any other tax.

I know it goes into a central pot.
I'm just wondering how much of it goes towards motor related uses.

For example lets say revenue is 40 bn.
Motor tax revenue is 1 bn.
How much of that goes towards road upkeep street lighting etc, as in what's the yearly motor related costs (footpaths, cycle lanes, traffic lights, road resurfacing etc).

Geuze

All motor tax goes into the LGF, local Govt Fund, and is distributed to local authorities





Local Government Fund - General Purpose Grant


The Local Government Fund (LGF) is a special central fund which was established in 1999 under the Local Government Act 1998. It is financed by the full proceeds of motor tax and an Exchequer contribution. The Fund provides local authorities with the finance for general discretionary funding of their day-to-day activities and for non-national roads, and funding for certain local government initiatives.

Geuze

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/LocalGovernment/Administration/FileDownLoad,32157,en.pdf

Here is the accounts of the Local Govt Fund.

Motor tax = 1bn approx into the LGF.

Icepick

80% goes on welfare (social spending, health & education). This is nothing new but of course very imbalanced.

Sheldons Brain

80% goes on welfare (social spending, health & education). This is nothing new but of course very imbalanced.

People spend pretty much half their lifespans either in education or receiving pensions. If government provides these things, as every European country does, it is going to amount to quite a bit. A more considered analysis is required as to whether it is imbalanced or not.

hmmm

I like it. It's simple, it's stark and it will give people a jolt.

Maybe "Tax Freedom day" as the next app? http://www.adamsmith.org/taxfreedomday

antoobrien

Scortho wrote: »

Motor tax revenue is 1 bn.
How much of that goes towards road upkeep

The councils are allowed spend a maximum of 1/3 on road maintenance. There were a few that got dispensations (or were told, can't remember which) to spend more this year.

The rest of it goes into the general LA coffers for providing services e.g. street lighting, water services, libraries etc., as well as the costs of running them.

fliball123

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

People spend pretty much half their lifespans either in education or receiving pensions. If government provides these things, as every European country does, it is going to amount to quite a bit. A more considered analysis is required as to whether it is imbalanced or not.

For a start a analysis of imbalance...The income and expenditure of this country is completely out of kilter .. For a start we are borrowing 1 billion a month to fund the the above, that is not sustainable on any level. The other side is over 20 billion is paid out on welfare, they get everything a roof over their head, light, heat and a lot seem to have no truck having kids where the state is used to look after these kids..

Now look at 2 people working (like me and my wife) I have one kid paying nearly 1k a month in creche fees alone I can hardly afford him let alone another kid..That is another imbalance those now considered middle class are being squeezed to death and no longer have the same options as those on the social welfare..

As for the existing debt which 2/3s was built up by our spend on areas such as welfare and ps pay and pensions our kids and grand kids will have to pay a fair % of that back..How is that far?

To break that down further in health over 80% is on wage and 70% in education is on wage..?? How is that fair, instead of straight cuts and stops to the incremental based wage system that the public sector is currently enjoying the government fudge around the edges asking them to work an extra hour and the likes and when cuts are needed they choose ridiculous decisions such as class size increases or hospital closures...and all the while I am being asked year in year out to pay more in tax to support an ever decreasing level of service..

The country is currently a joke

Geuze

fliball123 wrote: »

To break that down further in health over 80% is on wage and 70% in education is on wage..?? How is that fair, instead of straight cuts and stops to the incremental based wage system that the public sector is currently enjoying the government fudge around the edges asking them to work an extra hour and the likes and when cuts are needed they choose ridiculous decisions such as class size increases or hospital closures...and all the while I am being asked year in year out to pay more in tax to support an ever decreasing level of service..

The country is currently a joke

Very high labour shares in health and education are totally normal.

Hosps and schools are not like car plants - they are full of labour, not machines.

Labour costs being 70% of total costs is fairly normal.

fliball123

Geuze wrote: »

Very high labour shares in health and education are totally normal.

Hosps and schools are not like car plants - they are full of labour, not machines.

Labour costs being 70% of total costs is fairly normal.

The problem is they are higher here than any other country enduring a bailout

Icepick

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

People spend pretty much half their lifespans either in education or receiving pensions. If government provides these things, as every European country does, it is going to amount to quite a bit. A more considered analysis is required as to whether it is imbalanced or not.

Government doesn't provide anything. Tax payers do.

ardmacha

It is taxpayer's children who are being educated and those children's grannys who get pensions. Some payments go to people who are not playing their part, others go at either end of life to most people.