Tax revenues wasted as employees fear Budget 2004

The majority of respondents to a new survey on the forthcoming budget feel that tax revenues are wasted in Ireland - 88%.

And 75.2% think the economy is getting worse.

Almost three quarters of respondents are afraid that the Minister will increase personal tax rates yet just 53.8% would decrease personal tax rates if they were Minister for Finance.

These are some of the key results of a survey of jobseekers and employees conducted by on-line recruitment company RecruitIreland.com.

Respondents also believe that the two most important budgetary issues facing the Minister for Finance in this year's budget are the economy (36.3%) and healthcare (30%).

66% of respondents would pay a separate, additional tax if it were ring-fenced specifically for healthcare. 41% of those respondents also say they would pay up to €15 per month for such a healthcare tax and an additional 18% say that they would pay between €16 to €20 per month.

The survey, conducted over the past two weeks by RecruitIreland.com, also shows that 47.6% of people do not know how much their salary improved by as a result of last years budget. This suggests that people don't fully know the impact of the budget on their direct take home pay.

A significant majority (78.8%) also think that the names of all tax evaders should be published in the newspapers and a higher figure (82.8%) feel that the rich have gotten richer and that the poor have become poorer over the past decade.

While social welfare was the least important issue for respondents with just 4.2% rating it as the first priority for the Minister, 62.7% of respondents think that the budget does not give enough money to old age pensioners.

In relation to the housing market, almost one in four respondents used in excess of 36% of their monthly salary to pay for their mortgage or rent.

Related to this 69.8% of respondents think that the budget should make it more difficult for investors to make profits from the housing market. 78% think the Minister should increase the incentives for first-time buyers in the housing market.

Speaking about the results, Ms. Aoife Curtin, Marketing Manager of RecruitIreland.com said: "These results are very strong and do highlight the level of interest in the budget. But, the fact that people do not know the monetary impact of the budget on their take home pay suggests they don't fully appreciate its impact of the budget on their spending power.

" The results also highlight societal issues such as the particularly low priority given to social welfare and the significant focus on healthcare as a priority issue for the Minister. We were very surprised that people would be prepared to pay a new and additional tax if it were ring fenced for healthcare specifically.

"Additionally, when the survey is broken down into a male / female split significant differences emerge principally in relation to healthcare and infrastructure. While most women rated healthcare as the first priority for the Minister, most men rated healthcare as the third priority preceded by the economy and infrastructure. "