Sir, – With the measures introduced to give tax relief to first- time home buyers and investors, it is finally clear that we have learned absolutely nothing from the recent past. One of the main causes of our property bubble was tax incentives given to all and sundry to drive the price of property upwards. We have not even begun to recover from the damage done by our property mania and already the Government is returning to the same tired ideas.
There is a dogmatic belief in Ireland that property prices should be as high as possible, when in reality the opposite is true. The vicious spiral of inflation, public sector costs and uncompetitiveness which afflict Ireland all derived directly from people’s inability to afford a home.
The priority of Government should be to make good quality housing, in well-planned developments, available for citizens to purchase or rent at attainable prices; instead the current policy is to extract as much money from the populace as possible for the benefit of developers and investors.
Shame on Michael Noonan for continuing these failed policies. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I am a public service employee. My wife and I both earn good salaries and are fortunate enough not to have a mortgage.
On inputting our details into an online budget calculator, I discovered the net effect of the Budget on our income and expenditure would be zero. We are expecting our first baby from which date we will receive a child benefit allowance which we will be able to save for our child’s future. Meanwhile, those depending on fuel allowances, one-parent family payments and those with disabilities will all experience additional financial hardship in the coming year.
As someone who canvassed for the Labour Party in the last election because I believed I was campaigning for a fairer society, I feel a deep sense of anger and shame. Once again the Irish Government feeds the hand that votes for it. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Following Budget 2012, Miriam Lord writes that there was much gritting of teeth (Budget 2012 supplement, December 6th). This Budget, however, will ensure this too will stop. There is no provision in Budget 2012 to reverse the draconian cuts of 2009 and 2010 by the previous administration to both the medical card and PRSI dental schemes. This will lead to patients being forced to have teeth extracted rather than restored. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The decision by Michael Noonan to reduce stamp duty for commercial property to more competitive levels is to be welcomed. This reduction will come at no cost to the exchequer; but with the expected knock-on boost in transactions additional taxation revenue will be generated, both directly and indirectly, for this Government. This measure, combined with the long-awaited clarification of the proposed upward-only rent review reforms will greatly assist the commercial market in returning to more normal activity levels.
The previous 6 per cent stamp duty level, particularly given the UK rate of 4 per cent, was seen has a significant barrier to investment in Ireland by many international investors. These previously high transactions costs, meant that Ireland had effectively priced itself out of the lucrative international investment property market.
This action, combined with the clarification of the government’s plans on rent review reform will not only protect jobs but provide new avenues for growth and allow Ireland, in particular Dublin, to position itself as a competitive global property investment destination. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I have been a Labour Party member for several years and a Labour voter since Charlie Haughey’s era so it is with regret that I have decided I can longer vote for them. I cannot reconcile cuts to the people with the least in the country and the Croke Park deal with public service unions.
How can we cut six weeks fuel allowance from worried pensioners and still pay increments to public service workers? The reason, I sadly believe, is cowardice to the threat of wholesale strikes by public service unions. To listen to Brendan Howlin try to defend the Croke Park deal was a huge embarrassment to me, especially as the “reform”’ element has been largely ignored in favour of big pay outs to those who will take their large gratuities and leave.
For shame Labour and shame too on the overpaid union bosses who became cosy insiders with Partnership and forgot or don’t care about the people who really need protection. All the pre- Budget talk was about equitable cuts. What a miserable lie that was. If we all must suffer to satisfy the Troika terms then let us suffer – not just the weakest. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Michael Noonan announced that he intends to broaden the base for PRSI to cover rental, investment and other forms of income from 2013. I think the minister has very few options open to him in terms of revenue raising but while sympathy extends to home-owners who are in trouble with their mortgages such is not the case with landlords – quite the opposite in fact.
Those who invested in property during the so-called Celtic Tiger era helped to create jobs and generated substantial tax revenue for the state through VAT, stamp duty, etc, much to the delight of the then administration. Now however, in terms of perception we appear to have gone from being champions of the economy to being the pariahs of society.
Those property investors who had the sense to sell at the appropriate time again contributed substantially to the State coffers through capital gains tax while many of those with less foresight are now subject to repossessions and bankruptcy. We have had hit after hit including NPPR charges and unlike any other business, the inability to claim 100 per cent of mortgage interest (a legitimate business expense) against rental income. Because of these burdens we are paying income tax on properties that generate losses – in what other sector of the Irish economy would this happen?
I am certain that these proposed PRSI changes will push many investors over the edge of a financial cliff, creating additional havoc in the property market and add significantly to the dole queues. – Yours, etc,