Daft Property - Irish Property News

Cowen issues warning about hairshirt budget: 'Major hole' in tax base must be filled... TAOISEACH Brian Cowen last night set the scene for a hairshirt Budget by delivering a stark warning about the state of the public finances. In an off-script address at a chamber of commerce event in Monaghan, he said he wanted to bring it down to "brass tacks", instead of talking about all the zeros and the billions. He said the Government was trying to fix the "major hole" in its tax base, following the disappearance of one third of revenues due to the economic crisis. "This year, we're spending €50bn and our revenue base is €32bn. Let's put that in context. One half of total revenue is being devoted to the health service presently," he said. Mr Cowen went on to say that social welfare, including pensions, child benefit and disability benefit, accounted for two-thirds of tax revenue. "So if you were to take health and social welfare alone, you woul...