BUDGET 2008 - 2009

Sorry to bore on about self but so far in this one household:

Chid benefit for one child on brink of 3rd level to be halved in January
Same lost completely 12 months latter
Increase in administration fees for her third level study
Carers benefit in respect of other (disabled) child slashed by 50% in letter received this morning - (have no idea what the alleged 6.50 increase is all about - and suspect there may well be a lot of discrepancies experienced by people on the ground)
Rent likely to go up because of levy on landlords
1% tax levy on income
VAT increases on everything
petrol cost increasese - substantial commute means transport to work for partenr becomes hugely expensive
Gas and electricity increases
etc etc etc

Ha! 1000 Euro to buy a bicycle every 5 years.

Now on portal page under recent topics.
Open a second MN if you want to watch and post.

Joan Burton was good on the public transport and she had a decent point about the price of petrol. Should have smelled a rat a while ago when it cost 1.21.

Sinn Féin speaking now - they went on about wanting to nationalise banks in their General Election manifesto - I wonder how much of their manifesto will come true

cactus flower wrote:

Climate change - energy efficiency

funding for 20 million - home energy saving scheme
up to 30% of retrofitting - too little and useless to the fuel poor.

I was hoping for better than that - I would give my house done if I could get a bit more help.

Other than that, my nice lifestyle has been screwed by this budget:
1% levy, tax on wine, 5% increase on motor tax (don't ask! who's going to buy it now?), €10 increase on flying (I like to travel despite my fear of falling while freezing), 8c per litre on petrol (I visit down the country most weekends).

My sympathies on the carer's allowance Aragon.

The text of the Speech is here
http://www.rte.ie/money/budget2009/speech/chapter00.html

An excerpt about infrastructure

Quote :

The Government capital investment programme in 2009 will support core capital investment priorities such as:

- the improvements in public transport, including work on extending LUAS services to the Point and to Cherrywood, completion of the Cork to Midleton commuter line and general capacity improvements;
- the continuing work on the Major Inter-Urban Roads, which are all on schedule for completion in 2010;
- the ongoing work on the Convention Centre in Dublin, which is scheduled for completion in 2010 and
- the continuing substantial investment in water services, which will receive an additional €90 million, or 19% in 2009.

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

Ha! 1000 Euro to buy a bicycle every 5 years.

I like this a lot I have to say.

It is essentially the taxsaver scheme (http://www.taxsaver.ie/) for bicycles. Exactly what I wanted to see, except I'd like it to be every 2 years rather than 5.

BTW - Dail TV plays whenever I go to the portal.

Zhou_Enlai wrote:

BTW - Dail TV plays whenever I go to the portal.

I'll move it to the bottom right-hand corner - please let me know if it changes for you. If it doesn't I'll remove it altogether.

Things I don't like..

The income "levy".. it seems regressive, to hit us all rather just the higher paid. I'd prefer if income tax was raised, plain and simple.
Raising VAT: Again, regressive. Very bad.
Raising DIRT: The banks (and credit unions) need deposits right now!
Lowering the tax rebate on health expenses: This will cost me.
Petrol: I'm for carbon taxes, but only revenue neutral ones. This isn't revenue neutral.

Things I like..

The aformentioned taxsaver for bikes.
Flight Tax
Insulation grants (from €5m to €20m)
Car parking levy
Property tax. This was needed years ago.
The fact that diesel wasn't touched. Phew!
Lowered tax on laser cards.

Also, on the VAT increase. If it was me I'd be lowering VAT.
For a few reasons, one being that the retail sector needs cash right now.

eoinmn wrote:

Also, on the VAT increase. If it was me I'd be lowering VAT.
For a few reasons, one being that the retail sector needs cash right now.

Yes, Christmas is wrecked for small business/retailers I reckon?

The increase on VAT will not helo businesses experiencing cashflow difficulties. The better saving would have been to fire all the muppets in Revenue and the Dept of Finance who had a hand in drafting and destroying the latest VAT on property legislation.

Great cartoon here:

http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2959
:

What is the story with first time buyer relief? Did he nobble me there too? The dirty dog!


I take it back!:

Mortgage Interest Relief

In relation to mortgage interest relief, from 1 January 2009, the rate of tax relief for first time buyers will be increased from 20% to 25% in years 1 and 2 of the mortgage and to 22.5% in years 3, 4 and 5. This change will benefit first-time buyers who purchased since 1 January 2005. The rate for years 6 and 7 will remain at 20%. First time buyers relief ends after year 7. To fund this change, the relief for non-first time buyers will be reduced from 20% to 15%. This rebalancing makes for a fairer system and helps those buyers with the biggest financial exposure and those facing falling property values. Circumstances can change of course and this rating structure is not set in stone. It is very much tailored to current market conditions.

Auditor #9 wrote:

Zhou_Enlai wrote:

BTW - Dail TV plays whenever I go to the portal.

I'll move it to the bottom right-hand corner - please let me know if it changes for you. If it doesn't I'll remove it altogether.

I know I asked for it, but something a bit Big Brother about the way I can't switch it off

I for one am sorry that the children's allowance is not being means tested. It's not equitable and as someone without children, I resent paying for the gap year giftbox of the chattering classes. Linking it to the higher rate of tax would be fair - if you move into the higher level, children's allowance is taxed at a lower level.

18 year olds in college losing their children's allowance, I'm not hugely sympathetic with either, I have to say and for one main reason; at that stage, kids are entitled to a grant if they pass the means test. Change means tests if the levels are too high, by all means, but otherwise it means the taxpayer is paying twice and three or four times over (with free fees and paying for the education in general - registration fees are not the same as college fees) for kids to attend college. Investing in education makes good economic sense, but I think there's room to look also at how efficiently we invest taxpayer's money in third level education.

8c on a litre of petrol is a heavy blow on those of us who don't have access to public transport but I'm very relieved there hasn't been an increase in the price of diesel. I don't think our road-reliant haulage industry, exports or manufacturing - or indeed agriculture could sustain that any more than those lucky drivers of diesel cars. 50c on fags and whatever on wine - hard to complain about those.

The Kate P jury is out on the travel tax - I wonder if it will be sustainable.

Glad to see the increase in funds for making homes more energy efficient - and it will give greencollar workers and indeed builders an opportunity to develop. I would have liked to see more money being made available, but in these days, we take what we can. Maybe it would have been a very innovative opportunity to soak up some of the unemployment in the construction industry if that programme had been more creatively managed.

Introducing a means test on the medical card for those over 70 is stupid - because it will cost a fortune to implement and cruel because it will force those who are vulnerable to make ill-judged decisions about their health.

VAT, I don't know. It's 1/2%. In the current climate I think it's livable with when food and children's clothes and shoes are excluded anyway so the most vulnerable have those basics without being affected. Perhaps increasing confidence in the retail sector might be a good idea - though they made enough money out of us in recent years and in the short term it's no harm (had to laugh getting emergency supplies in 24 hour Tesco this morning to note they were applying sterling differences by slashing prices by 10% on clothes...now.)

The bottom line is that most families are going to have to pay thousands and lose services because of the gross mismanagement of the economy by this Government and their determination to create a class of wealthy friends and supporters.

tonys wrote:

Aragon wrote:

eoinmn wrote:

Also, on the VAT increase. If it was me I'd be lowering VAT.
For a few reasons, one being that the retail sector needs cash right now.

Yes, Christmas is wrecked for small business/retailers I reckon?

Raising VAT on discretionary goods by only .5% is clever enough, with retail target pricing it won’t be passed on, distribution businesses will have to absorb it.

This is more likely to hit professional services where VAt makes up large amout of the bill. Whatever about retailers, professionals are taking a kicking at the moment - estate agents, accountants, solicitors, architects, engineers and so forth are all being laid off at the moment. This is taking a kick at those who provide services to individuals (clients who are not registered for VAT). Still, it is only 0.5%!

If the budget wasn't bad enough what it also means is that the likelihood of our next Taoiseach being the less than useless Enda Kenny has just shot up. It seems that we'll have the toothless limp opposition in power next time round and not because they are any better than FF but simply because they are not FF.Bloody marvellous.Cookie's plans to emegrate have just been pushed up the agenda. 

Kate P wrote:

Quote :

I for one am sorry that the children's allowance is not being means tested. It's not equitable and as someone without children, I resent paying for the gap year giftbox of the chattering classes. Linking it to the higher rate of tax would be fair - if you move into the higher level, children's allowance is taxed at a lower level.

18 year olds in college losing their children's allowance, I'm not hugely sympathetic with either, I have to say and for one main reason; at that stage, kids are entitled to a grant if they pass the means test. Change means tests if the levels are too high, by all means, but otherwise it means the taxpayer is paying twice and three or four times over (with free fees and paying for the education in general - registration fees are not the same as college fees) for kids to attend college. Investing in education makes good economic sense, but I think there's room to look also at how efficiently we invest taxpayer's money in third level education.

Have to disagree with you there Kate. We're a family that is almost always just hovering above the levels at which we might qualify for assistance. We end much worse off than families on lower income. We'll have to pay huge sums for books, transport and all sorts of expenses we don't have now if our daughter is to go to college. God knows where it is going to come from and there is no question of her leaving home of course - or of any gap year. We'll have an expensively dependent child in our house for several years. The state needs educated, trained people if the economy and society are to thrive.

Perhaps more importantly than the above however, is that child benefit is a form of child protection and it should, imo, be one of the untouchables. The amount of money saved will be negligible after the cost of administering the testing is taken into account - unless the idea is to restrict CB to all but the destitute. A fraction of a per cent increase on corporation tax would have been preferable.

cookiemonster wrote:

If the budget wasn't bad enough what it also means is that the likelihood of our next Taoiseach being the less than useless Enda Kenny has just shot up. It seems that we'll have the toothless limp opposition in power next time round and not because they are any better than FF but simply because they are not FF.Bloody marvellous.Cookie's plans to emegrate have just been pushed up the agenda. 

Now that's being pessimistic! I think I'll stay where I am for now!

Edo wrote:

50% increase in the Uni registration fees - up from 900 to 1500 - nice one lads

I've just started a new course and that's very unwelcome. Here's hoping my grant covers that rather substantial pay-out.

cookiemonster wrote:

Bloody marvellous.Cookie's plans to emegrate have just been pushed up the agenda. 

If you get the opportunity cease it.