The wondrous adventures of Sinn Fein (part 3) Mod Notes and Threadbanned List in OP

Now im on nowhere near 100k a year but I guess the crux of the matter is does someone on 100k already pay their fair share and I think at €38.5k in direct taxation they do, why should they pay more tax for services they (or their kids in fact) are very unlikely to need such as social welfare and public healthcare?

Someone on €35k a year only pays €6k in direct tax.

The way I see it, there are two categories of cost of living when it comes to government policy: Domestic issues which the government can intervene with, and international issues which are outside our control. The issue of housing, for example, is a domestic issue. The issue of energy prices, for example, is an international one.

When it comes to domestic issues, government subsidies at the buying end are the wrong way to go, as they only act to further inflate prices and enrich those exploiting the issue to begin with. These issues are better solved with government policy to reduce prices, than putting more money in peoples' pockets to pay those prices without addressing supply and market forces.

When it comes to international issues, government subsidies are unfortunately pretty much the only way to go - unless of course an alternative is to circumvent the internationality of the issue by implementing a homegrown solution. On some of the issues we face, this is something the government can do - on others, it is not.

A domestic example: It's well known at this point that SF want to dramatically increase the amount of social housing built in this country in combination with measures to reign in those intentionally exploiting the housing crisis to price gouge. The former policy will help, but will take time to do so. The latter policies are therefore necessary in the interim. Ramp up the construction of social housing, and while we're waiting for it to be built, make it harder for the existing housing stock to be exploited as a means of leeching money from the people who are competing in that market. Vacant property penalties, rent controls, etc. All of this is SF policy - address supply in the medium term and address price gouging in the interim.

An international example: Energy prices. It's fairly well known at this stage that the issue of skyrocketing electricity and petrol bills this year is largely coming about as a result of international forces which are disrupting the supply chain long before anything is imported into Ireland - in other words, in terms of what we have to buy into the country, the price increases are occurring before it gets to our border. This isn't something the government can directly intervene in, so this is an area in which government intervention on the buying side is the only way to alleviate the issue. Reducing VAT or excise on fuel and/or increasing the state's assistance to those less well off in terms of fuel allowances are one example of policy intervention in this regard. State subsidies for people to retrofit their homes with modern insulation etc to reduce the amount of energy required during the winter, is another.

SF recently released a document calling for these kinds of interventions: https://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/61977

Outlining what other EU countries have done and suggesting we do similar - targeting the profits of energy companies, increasing state fuel welfare, delaying the implementation of the (necessary) carbon tax initiatives until this particular crisis has passed, etc etc etc.

These are two examples. My point is that while your arguments about economics are logical, you are failing to acknowledge that there are supply side issues which simply cannot be fixed on the government's end because they are happening outside Ireland, and the only thing we can do in these instances is to either reduce the state-imposed burden on prices via excise, etc, or increase the assistance the state gives to people.

The bottom line is, taking the "let the chips fall where they may" approach that our current government is so, so, so fond of when it comes to the cost of living is simply not an acceptable answer. It is unpalatable and unacceptable to simple allow peoples' lives to be decimated in this way, yet this is what our government has been doing ever since the beginning of the "recovery".

SF have directly stated that they will not do this. They are not taking the lassaiz-faire approach, and right now, of the three big parties, they're the only ones who are, at least on paper, committed to not doing that. FG are absolutely committed to it, FF are... Well honestly it's difficult to tell what FF actually stand for these days. The Greens are too tunnel visioned in their (rightful!) crusade against the looming impacts of climate change to realise that things have to be done in a way which is recognisant of peoples' everyday reality and at least attempts to shield quality of life to some extent. Labour simply can't be trusted after the amount of BS they tolerated when in coalition in the earlier part of this decade. PBP aren't seen as a party by many, unfortunately, to a great many young leftists in particular Richard Boyd Barrett is the only well known face of the party and a vote for them is seen as splitting the left vote when the momentum is with Sinn Fein. Same goes for the Soc Dems.

On that last point, it is a great shame that so many in Ireland do not fully appreciate the beauty that is our PR-STV system. Splitting the vote is less of an issue for us here than it is in other jurisdictions, and so the momentum argument isn't as valid as it would be in a country like the UK or the US. But the fact remains that many people genuinely fear that it does, which is why the vote goes where the momentum is.

The support for SF really is this simple. I feel like honestly, more people would understand this if the media in Ireland spent more time actually speaking to ordinary voters, and young people in particular - what I witnessed at the 2020 election count in Dublin was a media which was utterly dumbfounded by what was going on, whereas myself and my friends saw that election play out more or less exactly as we had anticipated. There is a huge, huge, huge lack of recognition of the issues facing young, single people and young families in Ireland - in fact, to be honest, the fact that it took until the second major level five lockdown for the "bubble" system for single-occupant households to be introduced is evidence of that. I posted extensively about this during the course of last year - that policies were very obviously being made entirely by people who had established family units, and initially held absolutely no regard for the plight of young, single people living alone.

SF at least act as if they understand that plight and care about doing something to fix it. 

Sinn Fein have proposed to give a €0.5m new tax break to J.P. McManus. If only they would look at the desperation of people?

.....I know its a SF thread, hence why I'm talking about SF.

I'm in full agreement with you that I don't think SF should be filling that gap for anyone.....talking about should (I even used a wee italic for you this time) is all well and good, the issue is that polling indicates that for a significant enough number of people, they're apparently the closest thing to it.

You can scream about it until you're blue in the face, but a significant enough percentage of the electorate are so fazed by FF/FG that even fecking SF seem like a better choice to them. That is deeply concerning given our agreement that SF are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.....and they'll hold up about as well to the heat of actual governance as one too.

He has a mansion worth €200m, the LPT on that is around €0.5m. Sinn Fein are abolishing the LPT in their budget, giving J.P. McManus a new €0.5m tax break.

Just to take one example of the nonsense that is in the Sinn Fein budget. They have proposed €1m capital expenditure for an embassy in Palestine. That seems fair enough, you could buy an office and an Ambassador's residence for that and pay for set-up costs in most cities in the world.

However, they have made no provision for increased current expenditure i.e. extra staff for the DFA. So build an embassy, but put no staff in it is one of their policies!!!!

And how big are JPs tax breaks on his horseracing empire given to him by FFG Government?

In fairness to JP, most of his money is made outside of Ireland and he is resident in Switzerland (where he conducts his business from).

Eh no. He won't, because he is not a tax resident in Ireland.

Sinn Fein are replacing a tax on fixed assets in Ireland (which is levied on every house, whether or not the owner is a tax exile or tax-resident) and replaced it with an undetailed, uncosted, tax on a person's wealth. You can only tax person's who are tax-resident in Ireland, so the wealth tax won't be paid by J.P. McManus or the overseas property funds. Instead, you will see the local ordinary businessman, the kind of guy who employs ordinary locals, paying the extra tax.

It really is outstandingly stupid the way they have gone about this. The only real way of taxing wealth is to tax the asset through a tax like LPT.

SF and FF fairly closely linked here. Scary to see how many FG supporters support partition.

https://twitter.com/NextIrishGE/status/1446435348192677921?t=4Es0iypMi-gexQSIy2hBhw&s=19

I have already explained why J.P. McManus and his friends will escape the SF tax loophole closing. International tax treaties are legally obliging.

Again, deflect to the government on the SF thread, but I have already pointed out two measures of stupidity in the SF budget. There are plenty more, such as the way that students are abandoned when it comes to accommodation, with no provision for them. Ooops, another mistake.