Budget 2021 Opinions

GreeBo

The_Brood wrote: »

So those of us who remained working the entire time, keeping the coffers afloat with taxes, in some occupations denied a proper leave from work because of travel restrictions...get nothing in the budget and instead get told how we are the 'lucky ones'.

Lets follow this logic through...you want the government to give you money...the government gets money largely from your taxes...so you want to pay more taxes?

Why are we putting up with this?

I think you are free to leave at anytime...

Idbatterim

Eric Cartman wrote: »

and how do you feel about those who have never contributed continually getting something and getting year on year increases on that...

Its a scandal ! The bigher scabdal, the value of the free housing they get, is gettimg greater by the day. Its a scandal . Free housing for the workshy poor on top of medical card , free few hundred euro a week. Outrageous cost for this, paid by the working poor, ripped off on a roof to put over their own head. That snake varadkar only had nearly a decade of boom to do what he said he woukd do though. Marginal tax rate of fifty oercent, that eveb hits the working poor income in dublin!

ELM327

Wanderer78 wrote: »

No it's not, it really really isn't, that's just ignorance

It's not ignorance,
I've worked with and donated to various charities that work with low income families and the homeless.The difference in attitude between a household with 2 working parents on low skilled wages, and 2 parents on long term JSA is mindblowing.


We need to fix the system and remove lifetime payments. Especially the likes of HAP, and allowances. This is the difference, you have someone on 25k a year that can't afford the doctor as it's 60 quid, vs someone on the dole who gets it free.


Want to know something funny? I was on the dole for ~9 months in 2009 and I didnt qualify for the allowances. I wasnt on the dole long enough, and I was on contributions JSB vs non contribution JSA. That is nonsense.

The_Brood

The Rooster wrote: »

You would like free money for doing your job, on top of your usual take home pay? Me too.

Who would you like to pay for it?

Presumably you haven't had your annual leave time reduced? Employers cannot reduce your entitlement.

I didn't say "free money," but at least some more holiday days would do. Anything.

And some employers are threatening people over the travel restrictions, meaning that you lose out on foreign travel, which in my case is the whole point of time off in the first place.

saabsaab

RtE Maura & Daithi stated that some survey indicated over 60% 'happy' with the budget. I guess 17.4 B extra goes a fair way.
How could anyone in the current situation expect to get much extra in the budget is beyond me.

RandomViewer

Idbatterim wrote: »

Its a scandal ! The bigher scabdal, the value of the free housing they get, is gettimg greater by the day. Its a scandal . Free housing for the workshy poor on top of medical card , free few hundred euro a week. Outrageous cost for this, paid by the working poor, ripped off on a roof to put over their own head. That snake varadkar only had nearly a decade of boom to do what he said he woukd do though. Marginal tax rate of fifty oercent, that eveb hits the working poor income in dublin!

Working poor around 10% tax, this 50% doesn't line up in any real world situation,

Stovepipe

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

It's your choice to live that far from work, that is utter madness and this is the kind of lifestyle and car reliance we need to stamp out.
Cycling may not suit you but it sure does many others. How many billions have been spent on bypasses and motorways over the years, a relative pittance is thrown at cycling and people are up in arms.

Im in the same situation. I'm 40 miles from work and I'd love to be nearer but, when herself and I were looking for a house that suited our job locations and our budget, we couldnt buy in Dublin, simple as. So we ended up in West Wicklow. Commuting is a pain in the hole but its what we and thousands of others have to do,not by choice. She managed to transfer her job and considerably shortened her commute and reduced her fuel costs BUT we can't afford an electric car, there is no usable public tranport for either of us and I'm a shift worker so that's out of the question and the electric charging infrastructure is still far too small.

Bowlardo

saabsaab wrote: »

Well how do you feel about the budget changes. No rants please, just the good and bad. Please don't bring it down to how it affects you alone but how it may benefit the country in general.


I guess the allowance for home working is good as your bills inc broadband will be taken into account.

The home allowance makes a nice headline but it worth absolutely **** all
Basically you internet bills, electric bills ,hitting bills /365
Multiple it by the day you work from home
Then multiple that 0.10

If you are lucky work can pay you working for WFH €3.20 a day tax free so that would be worth while. Probably 6-700 yoyos

Also the holiday at ho!e tax thing is a !lad of blocks as well

smellyoldboot

Not too much to be jealous of tbh. I dunno about you oddballs but regardless of whether or not I get a bonus this year, I'll keep my salary rather than lust after a €203 bonus , thanks very much.

smellyoldboot

The_Brood wrote: »

So those of us who remained working the entire time, keeping the coffers afloat with taxes, in some occupations denied a proper leave from work because of travel restrictions...get nothing in the budget and instead get told how we are the 'lucky ones'.

Why are we putting up with this?

Why did you work before the pandemic?

Sweet.Science

smellyoldboot wrote: »

Not too much to be jealous of tbh. I dunno about you oddballs but regardless of whether or not I get a bonus this year, I'll keep my salary rather than lust after a €203 bonus , thanks very much.

Aren't you great

smellyoldboot

Sweet.Science wrote: »

Aren't you great

I think so anyway. And all the people that matter seem to agree. Thanks.

blanch152

ELM327 wrote: »

It's not ignorance,
I've worked with and donated to various charities that work with low income families and the homeless.The difference in attitude between a household with 2 working parents on low skilled wages, and 2 parents on long term JSA is mindblowing.


We need to fix the system and remove lifetime payments. Especially the likes of HAP, and allowances. This is the difference, you have someone on 25k a year that can't afford the doctor as it's 60 quid, vs someone on the dole who gets it free.


Want to know something funny? I was on the dole for ~9 months in 2009 and I didnt qualify for the allowances. I wasnt on the dole long enough, and I was on contributions JSB vs non contribution JSA. That is nonsense.

In the French system, all doctor visits are subsidised, the subsidy is greater for those on low incomes, but crucially everyone pays at least €5-10.

It ensures that healthcare is accessible for everyone but demand is controlled by a small charge. Works much better.

whisky_galore

smellyoldboot wrote: »

Not too much to be jealous of tbh. I dunno about you oddballs but regardless of whether or not I get a bonus this year, I'll keep my salary rather than lust after a €203 bonus , thanks very much.

Faraway hills are always green for the oddballs.

jmayo

PeterPan92 wrote: »

There is a plan to reduce class sizes to 25:1, which I quoted above. This is still 10 children per class over the OECD average, and isn't good enough in my opinion. There is also zero investment in IT training or infrastructure in schools. I read it, just not satisfied with it. But as long as the long term unemployed get their bonuses, who cares about the children I guess.

Not a lone that our education planning is a fooking joke.

There are numerous places around the country where kids leaving primary school have no places in the local secondary school.

They only start planning the desperately needed new secondary schools when there are huge number of kids about to start secondary school.
This is despite the fact that they have known for at least 6 to even 8 years that they will not have enough secondary school places 6 to 8 years down the road.

Then a new secondary school is basically portacabins located in local sports club, other school or available space for 3 to 4 years.
It takes on average a few years for a school to be build and operational according to people on education boards I have spoken with.

That means less amenities and often less subject choices for these kids.
So some kids have substandard secondary education for half the period of their secondary education.

Another solution is to add portacabins to already overcrowded schools and stretch their resources.

Either way the kids lose out.

Wippee aren't we great.
knowledge economy my ar**.

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Headford got the M17.

Speaking of our poor education system. :rolleyes:

Also explains why some are green voters.

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Sorry, I could have sworn I went past Headford on that road on the way to Ashford Castle earlier in the year on the M17.

I hope you put your beliefs to practice and cycled there rather than use an automobile.

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I suppose we just see your gas guzzling reckless lifestyles and intensive dairy farming destroying the environment, and the bungalow blight ruining scenic areas, and wish you'd just get your act together a bit.

Firstly we are not yanks with our gas guzzling.
Secondly those dairy farms are part of our only real indigenous industry.

Thirdly you talk a lot of what they store in tanks on those farms and I aint talking about milk.

Thelonious Monk

jmayo wrote: »

I hope you put your beliefs to practice and cycled there rather than use an automobile.



Firstly we are not yanks with our gas guzzling.
Secondly those dairy farms are part of our only real indigenous industry.

Thirdly you talk a lot of what they store in tanks on those farms and I aint talking about milk.

I borrowed a car, I do have a licence you know!
An indigenous industry that is highly polluting and has our ecosystems in a right mess. We're importing grains from South America to feed to cows so we can export baby powder to China. Doesn't seem very sustainable to me.

stefanovich

Idbatterim wrote: »

Its a scandal ! The bigher scabdal, the value of the free housing they get, is gettimg greater by the day. Its a scandal . Free housing for the workshy poor on top of medical card , free few hundred euro a week. Outrageous cost for this, paid by the working poor, ripped off on a roof to put over their own head. That snake varadkar only had nearly a decade of boom to do what he said he woukd do though. Marginal tax rate of fifty oercent, that eveb hits the working poor income in dublin!

You are not counting the double taxation (VAT) and the triple taxation (on the businesses that make the products that we ultimately also pay for) and the taxation on money you invest or taxation on deposit interest.

jmayo

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I borrowed a car, I do have a licence you know!
An indigenous industry that is highly polluting and has our ecosystems in a right mess. We're importing grains from South America to feed to cows so we can export baby powder to China. Doesn't seem very sustainable to me.

I am fooking tired of this incessant whining about Irish farming.
Did some young farmer pee in your cornflakes or nick your girlfriend at some stage?

And how much foodstuffs are we importing purely for cattle and sheep ?

We export beef around the world, dairy products around the world, lamb, pork, maybe even horse meat thanks to larry the ****, but the equivalent is Belize exporting bananas, Peru exporting quinoa, Mexico exporting avocados, Colombia exporting coffee, Colombia exporting cocaine or Afghanistan exporting heroin even.

If you had your way then we would just raise enough for ourselves and if everyone did that, you would be harping on you couldn't get quinoa or avocados. :rolleyes:

christy c

Didn't see much mention of the pension age anywhere. I see the increase is being deferred. Hope this is just temporary, and not the implementation of the populist nonsense we heard during the election.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/state-pension-age-will-not-rise-in-january-minister-confirms-1.4379859%3fmode=amp

blanch152

PeterPan92 wrote: »

Two areas most talked about during lockdown: nurses/doctors etc. (clap for healthcare workers) and a renewed appreciation of the vital role teachers play in our society.

The budget failed to address existing issues in EITHER SECTOR.

PeterPan92 wrote: »

There is a plan to reduce class sizes to 25:1, which I quoted above. This is still 10 children per class over the OECD average, and isn't good enough in my opinion. There is also zero investment in IT training or infrastructure in schools. I read it, just not satisfied with it. But as long as the long term unemployed get their bonuses, who cares about the children I guess.

PeterPan92 wrote: »

To quote my earlier post:

" I'm asking for investment in reducing class sizes to near the OECD average (15:1), not 25:1."
This is not significant investment in my opinion. So no, I am not happy.

Some facts.

https://data.oecd.org/teachers/students-per-teaching-staff.htm

"The ratio of students per teaching staff is the total number of full-time equivalent students enrolled at a specific level of education divided by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers at the same level. Teachers refer to professional personnel directly involved in teaching students: classroom teachers, special education teachers and other teachers who work with students as a whole class in a classroom, in small groups in a resource room, or in one-to-one teaching inside or outside a regular classroom. This does not include teachers’ aides and other paraprofessional personnel."

Ireland is at 15.8 in 2018 at primary level, the increase in funding this year will bring us below 15.

suicide_circus

blanch152 wrote: »

In the French system, all doctor visits are subsidised, the subsidy is greater for those on low incomes, but crucially everyone pays at least €5-10.

In places like Germany and Austria, everyone pays *something* towards their public transport journey. Why? Because giving unlimited free travel to a large and ever increasing percentage of the population means that you end up with an underfunded dumpster fire of a public transport system. In Ireland we've yet to learn this lesson.

blanch152

suicide_circus wrote: »

In places like Germany and Austria, everyone pays *something* towards their public transport journey. Why? Because giving unlimited free travel to a large and ever increasing percentage of the population means that you end up with an underfunded dumpster fire of a public transport system. In Ireland we've yet to learn this lesson.

In Ireland we have a system that provides large cash handouts and free services to a few.

Reducing the cash handouts and providing cheap services to all is the European model and one we should emulate. Hand-in-hand with that will mean higher personal taxes but a better lifestyle outcome.

suicide_circus

The Irish welfare state, indeed Irish socialism in general, is a weird beast.

saabsaab

blanch152 wrote: »

In Ireland we have a system that provides large cash handouts and free services to a few.

Reducing the cash handouts and providing cheap services to all is the European model and one we should emulate. Hand-in-hand with that will mean higher personal taxes but a better lifestyle outcome.

How about a universal payment to all just tax on an amount above that level and abolish all Social Welfare payments.

stefanovich

saabsaab wrote: »

How about a universal payment to all just tax on an amount above that level and abolish all Social Welfare payments.

Negative income tax would be most equitable as per Mr Friedman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZakHrQ1m34M

JeffKenna

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I borrowed a car, I do have a licence you know!
An indigenous industry that is highly polluting and has our ecosystems in a right mess. We're importing grains from South America to feed to cows so we can export baby powder to China. Doesn't seem very sustainable to me.

Do you have any idea of how many jobs the agricultural sector provides? If you remove that what's left. A model built around being a tax haven for multinational companies?