Raise taxes for those who can afford to pay more
Tomorrow many of us are going to exercise our franchise to vote in the local and European elections. Is what we’re doing or who we’re voting for going to make a difference? The chances are that it will not.
However, it will present an opportunity for those who cannot take any more of the continuing austerity policies that have decimated our economy to take a pot shot at those in power. These policies may have been driven by the troika but they would not have been implemented if this or the previous government had any better solution. They still do not.
There is widespread hope these elections will put some manners on our politicians. Do not believe it for a minute. They will tell us what they think we want to hear as before.
Since that inglorious day in September 2008, the vast bulk of the populace have suffered from austerity heaped on austerity. However, over the last few weeks we’ve heard Fine Gael commit to reducing taxes for the oppressed ‘coping classes’.
It is just pie in the sky. While we continue to borrow tens of millions of euro every week, any tax reductions will be followed by tax increases elsewhere.
This Government, like its predecessors, has a bottom-up approach as far as the imposition of taxes and charges is concerned. Do not expect any relief.
It’s the way it seems to work here. The gap between those at the top of the monetary and reward food chain compared to the rest of us continues to grow ever wider. It’s as if those who caused our economic problems are being rewarded for doing so. The fact that much of the rest of the western world is in the same boat is no comfort.
Government continues to dip ever more into our pockets to ensure that those at the top do not have to go short. The universal social charge is set to increase even for those who can least afford it, from 4% to 7%, while being reduced for those over €100,000 per annum.
Nobody saw that coming other than the clever clogs who stitched it into the act when it was introduced by the Fianna Fáil-led government in 2011. Obviously, we still haven’t learned to read the small print. Michael Noonan promises to do something about it. Once the election is over, like the other promises, this will just be more dust in the wind.
So far, we as a people have been docile and have allowed the troika and our government to drag us around by the nose. We do not react, other than complain to Joe Duffy, when someone in the HSE rejects an application for a medical card from someone in need or cancels the medical card from someone with cancer or other terminal illness.
But the most disrespectful aspect of it is, the unfortunate is often not told of this decision. He or she finds out when they are refused the urgently needed drugs or are asked for payment in the pharmacy. As the HSE is a tool of the State, we must assume this is government policy. How long more will me put up with it?
There are solutions but government will have to grasp the nettle. Those at the top will have to contribute more, even for five years or so. Recently, Taiwan imposed a levy on nearly 10,000 of the island’s wealthiest people in a bid to narrow the income gap. It sounds onerous. It’s not a bit of it. It’s simply going to increase the tax rate from 40% to 45% for those over €243,000 per annum.
Given that in Ireland folk hit that rate when they are barely above the average industrial wage, there is plenty of room to levy another 5% on those above, say €150,000 gross. It will not bring in a huge amount, but it will show some solidarity and better still, it might be ringfenced to maintain medical cards for those who need them because of financial or medical need.
