Today I got a €100 pm rent increase for a landlord.
€100 pm is €1,200 pa.
As the tenant is a higher-rate taxpayer, they have to earn (at least) €2,400 to pay the extra amount.
The landlord, a retired individual with no mortgage, receives €1,200 pa.
They are also higher rate taxpayers, so have to pay (at least) 50% on that €1,200 pa.
So they receive less than €600 pa (net) extra.
Conclusion :
The tenant has to earn €2,400 gross, for the landlord to make €600 net, while the government pockets a whacking €1,800 throughout the life-cycle of that transaction.
I used to pose a question to people, about what they thought their biggest expense was. The answer invariably was their mortgage, or occasionally childcare. When I pointed out that it was in fact government I was met with two responses, outrage or acknowledged acceptance and surprise.
Smart enough to know that the revenue might look at the article. Never done a nixer, very believable. They are laughing at us who go to work everyday and make sure our kids get a good education.
I have my own notion of a deal to strike with tax-shy middle-class people. (Offer not given to anyone with a total net worth of €400k or above)
Pretty simple: they agree to the deal, their total tax bill is reduced by 10% each year.
In return, no publicly funded health care for them. Any time they get looked after medically, it’s out of their pocket.
If and when they need life-saving surgery or chemo or other intervention that’s beyond their ability to pay, they are to be automatically offered a pill with a lethal dose of morphine.
If they’re childless, I’d offer them 20% off their tax if they get sterilized first.
Re the Op…my dear old Father has consistently and aptly stated for as long as I can remember, that the mafia are amateurs in comparison to the political class in this country.
Obscene doesn’t even come close to describing the eye watering levels of direct and indirect taxation in this country.
Scandanavian levels of taxation for third world levels of services (that is for those working/ middle income cohort)
I would be considered a high earner but by the time I cover my costs I would consider my situation to be that of threading water at best.
I have passed up a couple of voluntary severance packages at my company over the last couple of years but I 'll tell you I won’t next time around as relative to the benefits I’d be be entitled to I would be better off just sitting on my hole. (Workstress free and can work on my golf handicap instead)
Do you mean 10% every year (so in year three you pay (0.9)(0.9)(0.9)(Tax-Year-0)), or once off?
If the latter, why only 10%?
Anyway, let’s say it was 10%. If someone had gross income of 100k, they pay about 41k in state deductions, so they’d have 4k spare. Probably they’re paying something like 1k-2k on private health insurance anyway, so they would now have a €6k fund for health insurance. Switzerland is the private-insurance model I know best, and working on basis of a 40yo person taking a yearly excess of CHF1500 and living in Zurich they can have private health insurance for about CHF3000 p.a. (according to comparis.ch, which is about €2500).
So you’d have money to spare, about €3500. That’s not the full story, however. All healthcare is not created equal, and what you’d get access to in Switzerland is certainly better and more pleasant than what you are subjected to in Ireland, but it’s not so much dearer (e.g. visiting a consultant, i did this in both Switzerland and Dublin: fee for consultant dermatologist was marginally lower in Switzerland, and a good bit lower when you factored in the GP fee I had to pay in Dublin to get access to the consultant; quality was better in Switzerland though: better advice, free samples of sunscreen, full examination table and full skin exam included; the consultant in Dublin kept me waiting over an hour, had a small room with old “charming” furniture, lectured me on my own area of expertise for about 10 minutes (real taxi-driver type stereotype, except I’ve never had such a bad taxi driver) and then the hand-held optical tool didn’t work (in spite of lots of banging it and giving out) so she had to do the investigation unaided, which was an attempt at full body but ended up only partial due to lack of process)
Anyone I know believes in progressive taxation, they’re not “tax shy”
They do not, howvere, believe in being milked dry to pay for welfare spongers (note I mean people who make a career out of welfare, not everyone who claims a benefit they’re entitled to) while then being subjected to a very high cost of living, mainly accommodation (via a rigged market which again the sponges get for practically nothing)
I’ve said before but we have a spending problem in this country, we have very high levels of tax when direct and indirect taxes are combined.
We’ve heard a lot of kite flying from the gov recently about cutting taxes but would you expect any less facing into elections shortly. However I’ve seen a lot of not so subtle stuff in the media from the mnc’s that high income tax is starting to become a disincentive to attracting talent into certain roles. Of course its highly probable we wont see any tax cuts for the sponging middle class myself but i’ve no doubt we are overdue something.
People I hear complain about this + cost of living. A lot of young people are choosing other cities as while Gross wages here are relatively high you’re taxed highly and then what’s left doesn’t go very far
Some places are having serious trouble hiring and then keeping the single early to mid 20s demographic
I did some calcs before - the revenue takes a massive chunk of peoples earnings when you follow the money through from start to finish.
Thats why doing things like growing your own food is the most subversive thing you can do. You dont get taxed on your labour or on consumption, and no one elses labour gets taxed either.
the tax system is designed to catch the middle classes. The rich pay for their stuff and then pay tax. The poor have ways of using the system to their advantage too. The middle class is on the threadmill I’m afraid though.
The system is becoming increasingly usurious though, with extra taxes coming in - property, water, broadcasting, UHI, and there will be more.
something will have to give - in the meantime - I might look at going off grid
