Skip to main content

Householder To Carry Can For Banks...

Householder to carry heavy can for errant banks...

HOUSEHOLDERS will be hammered. That is the clear message from the four-year austerity plan issued yesterday by the Government.


In plain language, if you own a home, have a pension and a son or daughter in college, you will end up more than €4,600 a year worse off by the time all of the changes in this plan have been implemented.

Many of the changes will impact early on in the four-year plan, putting additional pain on family budgets.

Middle Ireland is set to pay an extortionate price for the failures of our banks, our regulators and the Government. And significantly, there are no measures in the four-year plan to levy the errant banks.

Instead, homeowners will bear the brunt.

Personal finance experts last night warned the taxes, levies and charges would push many families over the edge financially.

The downturn has left many consumers just one bill away from financial collapse. The severe measures in the four-year plan could be enough to sink many homeowners struggling to pay bills.

People will enter the tax net at a much lower level of income, they will pay tax at the higher 41pc rate on more of their income, and will get lower tax credits than at present.

A tax credit is basically the amount of income you can earn before paying tax. The swinging changes will mean that income tax levels will come back to 2006 levels, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said yesterday.

The changes will mean that a married couple, with one income of €55,000, will see their annual income reduced by €2,310 from the tax changes planned over the next four years.

But one of the biggest surprises was the way pensions investment was pounded.

There is real pain for anyone sensible enough to take out a private pension plan.

Those providing for their retirement will now find it costs them an extra €32 for every €100 they put into a pension.

This is because of the loss of tax relief from PRSI and health levy payments when money is put into a pensions, and from the gradual reduction in the tax relief rate for pensions investment for higher taxpayers from 41pc to 20pc.

All this means it will make little sense to invest in a pension. Additional voluntary contributions (AVSs), used by those with inadequate pensions to top up their retirement fund, will no longer be worth investing in.

On top of all of this, college fees are set to surge by an additional €500 a year.

Then there will be higher VAT (value added tax) on goods and services – a measure which will hit everyone.

Middle Ireland will be disproportionately hit by the new site valuation tax to come in by 2013, even if it is set to average €200, lower than expected.

This is because measures will have to be put in place to exempt low-paid workers and those who have paid stamp duty. The net effect will be that middle Ireland will be carrying the burden here too.

Other taxes and levies, such as the doubling of carbon tax and the loss of tax reliefs, will mean it is set to become very expensive to live in this country.

The banks broke us, but the taxpayer ends up carrying the can.



Report by Charlie Weston - Irish Independent

Popular posts from this blog

Ireland's Celtic Tiger Excesses...

'Bang twins' may never get to run a business again... POST-boom Ireland is awash with cautionary tales of Celtic Tiger excesses, as a rattle around the carcasses of fallen property developers and entrepreneurs will show. Few can compete with the so-called Bang twins for youth, glamour and tasteful extravagance. Simon and Christian Stokes, the 35-year-old identical twins behind Bang Cafe and exclusive private members club, Residence, saw their entire business go bust with debts of €9m, €3m of which is owed to the tax man. The debt may be in the ha'penny place compared with the eye-watering billions owed by some of their former customers. But their fall has been arguably steeper and more damning than some of the country's richest tycoons. Last week, further humiliation was heaped on them with revelations that even as their businesses were going under, the twins spent €146,000 of company money in 18 months on designer shopping sprees, five star holidays and sumptu

Property Tycoon's Dolce Vita Ends...

Tycoon's dolce vita ends as art seized... THE Dublin city sheriff has seized an art collection and other valuables from the Ailesbury Road home of fallen property developer Bernard McNamara. The collection will be sold to help pay his debts. The sheriff, Brendan Walsh, is believed to have moved against the property developer within the past fortnight, calling to his salubrious Dublin 4 home acting on a court order to seize anything of value from his home to reimburse his creditors. The sheriff is believed to have taken paintings from the family home along with a small number of other items. The development marks a new low for Mr McNamara, once one of Ireland's richest men but who now owes €1.5bn . The property developer and former county councillor from Clare turned the building firm founded by his father Michael into one of the biggest in Ireland. He is the highest-profile former tycoon to date to be targeted by bailiffs, signalling just how far some of Ireland's billionai

I fear a very different kind of property crash

While 80% of people over 40 own their own home just a third of adults under 40 do. This is disastrous for social solidarity and cohesion Changing this system of policymaking requires a government to act in a way that may be uncomfortable for some. Governments have a horizon of no more than five years, and the housing issue requires long-term planning. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was intended to tackle some of these problems. According to its website its remit is to “drive the delivery of better public services, living standards and infrastructure for the people of Ireland by enhancing governance, building capacity and delivering effectively”. So how is the challenge of delivering homes for people in 2024 and beyond going to be met? The extent of the problem is visible in the move by companies, including Ryanair, to buy properties to house staff. Ryanair has, justifiably, defended its right to do so. IPAV has long articulated its views on how to improve supply an