With the news that we’re going to have a surplus of over 8 billion euro, how can the government still justify the USC tax.
It was brought in as a “temporary” tax after the 2008 crash, using the financial crisis to justify the tax. Now we have the opposite of a financial crisis and the government is flat out refusing to consider removing it.
This year they will suck up 4 billion euro from us citizens in USC. What can I do as an “average Joe” to get politicians to work on abolishing USC? Is there any party that is in favour of abolishing it?
https://www.ft.com/content/6e923f7a-cef0-4efa-bc6a-3cc2e8910442
by Willbo_Bagg1ns
33 comments
I hate to break it to you, Mr. Baggins, but it is here to stay.
As justifiable as TV licence or motorway tolls.
Legal money ripping
Don’t get the USC hate. Fairer tax than income tax. Id prefer to decrease income tax rates and increase USC with the net effect of it the same cost to the average Joe.
There’s nothing more permanent than a temporary tax.
The surplus is temporary. The USC broadens the tax base.
There’s no such thing as a temp tax
VRT should also be abolished. We’re robbed blind already
Do you want to repeat the mistakes of the celtic tiger years? That’s how you would do it. Gutting income taxes to unsustainable levels and then act shocked when the finances are in tatters when a bonanza tax source dries up (record corporation taxes this time, compared to 2008).
And let us not forget, that a Fine Gael led government promised the phasing out of the USC over a period of five years.
In 2016.
The USC is literally the fairest tax we have.
You pay a higher rate as your income increases. It’s banded well and is very low for lowest income workers. There are no exemptions i.e. everyone pays and there’s no avoidance possible unlike with the PAYE bands
If anything the main PAYE bands should be retired and USC be expanded to take over.
Need to get rid of USC, link regular tax bands to inflation and reduce the taxes on shares and ETFs. It’s no wonder our housing markets bollixed if any alternative methods of investment are made so unappealing. I like a progressive tax system but its been taken a bit too far.
If I had a choice, I’d opt to keep paying USC if we got more services in return and tackled the housing crisis properly.
People seem to forget that USC REPLACED the income levy (1, 2 or 3% in 2009) and the health levy (4 or 5% in 2009). Are we meant to bring those back if we get rid of USC? So a tax of roughly between 5 and 8% depending on income.
In comparison USC rates range from 0.5% to 8%. It seems much better.
People need to stop thinking about the surplus as if it’s personal finances we’re talking about. I’d you’re you’re running a country and you have a surplus in any given year, or over a few years, your carrying that forward for future investment or future costs. It’s not like discretionary income you would have for talking about a person or a household.
So for the government they’re thinking of the massive pensions black hole that all European union countries currently face or how to pay for all the green transition stuff , or even just putting money into a rainy day fund for the next international crisis. The idea of taking in and spending perfectly all the money you have in a given year is super risky and short sighted.
Because it’s the one tax that brings everyone into the tax bracket.
Its so much money every paycheck too 🙁
USC more aggressively taxes higher earners in Ireland, so I’d be more inclined to revisit PAYE as opposed to USC.
The 4 billion you mentioned in your post equates to about €120/month/person.
A surplus doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to do with the money, it just means it wasn’t budgeted for.
Given how fickle the macro economy is right now, I wouldn’t want us to be doing anything drastic, as having money to spare will help recover if things go south.
That being said I don’t see why citizens should be paying 22 – 51% tax while corporations pay 12.5%. Although on the other side of the coin to collect an extra 4 billion in CT, we could need to increase it to 14% which means we would lose a lot of corporations to others in the Eurozone and likely end up collect less in CT in the long term.
TLDR tax is fickle
I want to see USC retained but PAYE reduced to account for it.
USC is one of the most progressive taxes we have.
A give away budget is how we ended up in the recession
That surplus is gone in 2027. You don’t get rid of a tax and then have lose the coverage you have for that in a few years. It’s being prudent, as much as we might not like it. Better than we did in the 00s anyway
The Irish tax system is the most redistributive in the EU. The existing system does more to take money from the rich and give to the poor than any other EU system.
https://www.esri.ie/news/irish-tax-system-does-most-in-europe-to-reduce-inequality#:~:text=While%20the%20distribution%20of%20household,close%20to%20the%20EU%20average.
I know this fact doesn’t suit the current political narrative but it’s true.
The real issue is that the Irish economy is one of the most unequal before taxes are applied which is why the tax system has to be so progressive.
Rather than moan about a tax system that actually works address wage inequality with measures like increased minimum wages.
It’s fine we need a bit more cash for project consultants and reviews for the HSE. With this sort of cash pile, we could think about the Dublin airport metro for at least another ten years.
Typical of this sub to complain about tax when Ireland has one the most progressive tax systems in the OECD.
It’s the fairest of all income taxes. We need more USC, less PRSI and better PAYE scales.
Be grand if we got 4 billion worth of services. But we don’t so scrap it.
There was a temporary ’emergency’ 7 cent per litre tax put on fuel back then.
That ’emergency’ continues to this day.
Its the right time to run a surplus now, unemployment is low, inflation is high. Any tax cuts right now will just overheat the economy.
How do we have a record number of homeless people, a housing crisis and health service in shambles and these clowns are talking about a 8b surplus?
I agree, lets shift the tax burden from the wealthy and high earners, onto low earners immediately.
It’s an income tax. It’s progressive. As taxes go it’s a good one. You’re far better off moaning about the rate of VAT on what we buy. It’s 4% above the OECD average, it’s regressive and it is levied on all sorts of daft shit e.g. condoms.
I don’t recall any politician saying the USC was temporary. People said it on social media, and some politicians have called to abolish it. But I’m not sure it was ever temporary.
There is a metric fuck tonne of investment needed in the country, the money is needed just no one competent to spend it
“keep it going…say nothing”