A chara, – There seems to be general positivity about the budget, and in comparison to the eight previous versions, this one is an improvement.
We should remember, however, that for someone being whipped while bound in shackles, if the whipping stops, it is an improvement but they remain shackled.
The USC tax persists, our pension savings continue to be raided and the impact of the property tax and water charges remain as extra indirect taxation for the majority of workers.
Regardless of the spin, it seems we shall remain shackled for the foreseeable future. – Is mise,
DECLAN KEANE,
Prosperous,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – In the interests of fairness and parity, will those of us who have our own supply of water and have our own wastewater facilities get tax relief on the cost of providing same? – Yours etc,
JOHN
MORRISON,
Kildindan,
Co Cork.
Sir, – Now that the provision of water is no longer being paid for from general taxation (following the appropriate tax reductions in Budget 2015), can the opponents of water charges own up to the fact that their main motivation is just to squander as much as they want, just as they used to do with waste collection in the past? – Yours, etc,
BRIAN AYLWARD,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.
Sir, – Tuesday’s budget has been described as “the end of austerity”.
What does this signal for the Anti-Austerity Alliance? Is it now irrelevant? Maybe it should rebrand to AAA to focus on upgrading Ireland’s position with the credit rating agencies. – Yours, etc,
WILLIAM BURKE,
Mallow,
Co Cork.
Sir, – As the Ministers have reduced the number of people obliged to pay the Universal Social Charge, shouldn’t it now be simply called the “Social Charge”? – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.
Sir, – Last year the Minister introduced a single-person child carer credit to replace the single-parent tax credit.
This legislation discriminated against 50 per cent of separated parents, as only one parent – the so-called primary carer – was allowed to claim the new credit. Usually the primary carer is the mother.
Despite being repeatedly asked and lobbied about this, in the main from separated fathers, the Minister made no changes to this discriminatory legislation in the budget. Separated fathers should take note, discrimination in the tax system is to be maintained. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN QUINN,
Enniscrone,
Sligo.
Sir, – I’m married to a smoker and I’ve learned over time that no one is going to tell him when he will quit. Yet the Government seems to think that by increasing the price of cigarettes very year in the budget will stop him smoking (an extra 40 cent this year, bringing the price of 20 cigarettes to €10). It’s not about the money. It’s about the addiction.
This is just a cheap and lazy money-making scheme for the exchequer and it should stop. – Yours, etc,
ANN CROTTY,
Fairview,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – It is very interesting that the new 11 per cent rate of USC for income over €100,000 only applies to the self-employed.
Apart from the fact that the new rate doesn’t apply to civil servants, TDs or Ministers, what is the justification for only targeting the self-employed and not fat cat employees?
I know turkeys don’t vote for Christmas but did the Ministers and their mandarins have to be so obvious? – Yours, etc,
GAVIN TOBIN,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.