This Government doesn’t add up

A government that is unable to ascertain, by mathematical calculation, that the State pension has been untouched, is unlikely to be able to manage Ireland Ltd.

The telephone allowance has gone from €22.58 per month to zero. Prescription charges have risen from zero to €2.50 per item. Consider the pensioner who needs a variety of medicines per month. The fuel allowance for the least well-off has been cut by €120 per annum. The bereavement grant is ending.

How can any government minister keep a straight face and say that the State pension has been protected from cuts? Also, the elderly will have to pay for property tax and water charges from their meagre pensions, as will the many lowly paid people who will become pensioners in the future. Any form of taxation on ‘essentials to life’ must go, as it is unjust and unfair, and places a greater burden on the less well-off.

The time has arrived for our ministers to abandon their laptops and smart phones and revert to a simple abacus.

Perhaps, with a simpler machine, they, and the departments they head, could tax their brains and determine exactly what Ireland Ltd needs by way of finance each year.

On agreeing the appropriate amount, the next step would be to provide every citizen with a decent, personal, tax-free cost-of-living allowance (perhaps €12,000). Step two would be to establish the percentage (perhaps 40%) that would have to be deducted from every citizen’s earnings, above the tax-free cost of living allowance, to fulfil Ireland Ltd’s annual financial requirements.

For example, those with €20,000 above the allowance would pay €8,000 in tax, while those with €200,000 would pay €80,000.

The only acceptable further taxation, if required, could be raised by heavy taxes on luxury items that are not essential to a decent quality of life.

It would be expected that the taxes collected would provide education to third level, complete medical requirements and provision of all vital services, ie refuse, water, roads, street lighting, etc, without any further charges on citizens.

Our government has convinced the world that Ireland Ltd is a good place for greedy speculators and exploiters to visit and to avail of low, or no, tax rates, and to take advantage of a vast, low-paid work pool, desperate for employment. So how could I have expected it to demonstrate to the world how well Ireland Ltd cares for all its citizens?

Patrick Murray

Dundrum

Dublin 14