Austerity Budget 2012 Key Points and Budget Protest

by Gale Vogel. - Birds Eye View Sat Dec 08, 2012 15:46

Cuts to civil service to be down to about 280,000 by 2014. This is still an artificially high number of public servants. Long considered a right, a job is a privelege, no one can deny this right. The respnsibility associated with this right is born on the individual, to both seek for themselves and honour their appointment. We should all do the best that we can do. I do not have a right to an income without attending to my responsibility, that these responsibilities are wide ranging and include carers in this society is supported by the state. This support is enshrined in our consitution, where when carers can no longer care the state takes this responsibility. The reduction of the carers allowance is therefore encouraging of their inability to continue to care, the costs then may be far greater than the allowance and may become the burden of the state.

The overall emphasis of this or any budget and the focus of the Irish media is on the money. There is also a strong and very needed emphasis on the people by the press. That this human element is almost wholely ignored by our administration is abysmal. Talking with one self proclaimed victim of the Irish state in Dublin this saturday he stated "we should stand up and do something, we should refuse to cooperate, we should bring the f...ing system crashing and take what's rightly ours." he paused long enough for me to move on, but what is rightly ours? I'm assuming that what he referred to is the control of our own lives and how we react to the onslaught of our administration. There has been growing over the past years a divide in our society between those in 'secure pensionable jobs' as the civil service was once called and the softly sinking and weak private supporters of all we have come to accept, our society. This divide needs to be closed, that understanding from both sides, the suffering brought about by an average reduction of 14% in income for those in the public service is real. It may to those in the private sector appear of little consequence, them suffering an average of 20%, many suffered a complete loss of income and the associated loss of dignity. It is not about money, it is about people. Money is merely a convenient supporting mechanism for society and community. The administration is too a support for society and community without which there may well be collapse. With that being supported, the food producers, service providers, technicians, innovators and so forth by the administration there is a inherent cooperation that works well. The development of a divide in this threatens collapse. We must all accept our resonsibility and attent to those being supported, and through taxes to those supporting in a balanced manner. The administration dictates this balance and in this there is a vested interest in protecting more their own corner. There is a failing in the administration support, damaged infrastructure in the poor condition of roads is a symptom of there being insufficient funds. There is insufficient funds to carry out the physical service while there remains above average (14% reduction only) funds available to maintain employed those who cannot carry out the service.

Paying above average to achieve less is not sustainable. We need to achieve more.

by Anon Fri Dec 07, 2012 12:31

The Banner Brigade from Mayo were once again outside the muppet puppet house yesterday from noon until late. The cops cited a Section 21 order which they claimed was signed by Gannon of Pearse St station (known as 'Soap the Rope' during his time as Shell's cop in Mayo) to clear the space outside this bastion of proto fascism - when asked for sight of the claimed order the response was the usual - get out or you'll be arrested. As it happened, the Banner Brigade maintained their blanket coverage at the front of the muppet puppet house which meant the state broadcaster couldn't do any outside reports from there given the dictat that the giveaway banners cannot appear on any RTE coverage!

Is it not past time that EVERYBODY starts to connect the dots in regard to the continued giveaway of our resources and the increasing burden placed on the people of Ireland who rightfully own these resources.

by T Fri Dec 07, 2012 10:15

The PDF document located here: http://budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2013/Documents/Expenditure...I.pdf contains estimates for government expenditure for 2013. There are four parts to this and the rest of the documents can be found here: http://budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2013/2013.aspx . It gives a rough breakdown for each department.

I think it is well worth saving a copy and looking through it because collectively we all should be watching where the money goes. Ideally a much greater level of detail would be required and if this was paired with similar figures showing where tax is coming from and how much is gone and has gone to the banks then that would be a tiny bit of progress.

by wageslave - (personal capacity) Thu Dec 06, 2012 21:38

Somebody sent me this as a response to the budget aspirations of FG.
I think we all need a laugh in the face of all this!

by lefty Thu Dec 06, 2012 17:40

Stop calling this a "property tax"

It's not really a property tax at all.

It's a FAMILY HOME TAX as Pearse Doherty rightly described it in the Dail yesterday and as I've previously described it in comments on this website. (http://www.indymedia.ie/article/101606 )

The Troika mandated a "site value tax" not this abomination.

Not that I agree with the troika much but a site value tax as I understand it is a fairer proposal than just targetting households. FG had the choice and they chose to do it this way in keeping with their pro corporate / pro rich "fuck the poor" philosophy.

Amongst the political waffling, Stephen Donnelly delivered an excellent short speech in the dail after the budget. Well worth catching.

others to note were Ming and even Mick wallace had penned some decent words, though he looked very much as if the fight was knocked out of him.

by Elric Thu Dec 06, 2012 15:20

Hound Coalition TDs, especially Labour. Phone them, email them, jam up their clinics, get in their faces.

by Blake - Budget 2012 Thu Dec 06, 2012 14:22

Why?

Probably because they are most likely to be immobile ie they are beyond emigration because their home is in negative equity, the prospect of paying an auctioneering to rent it out while they emigrate is not feasible, their children are at school going age and most probably they opted for public service jobs with the intention of working full term ie what used to be known as the job for life.

Squeezed: every last drop of tax payment potential has befallen thanks to Government on these people.

Add to these the elderly and people with disabilities and they become targets like rabbits trapped by lamplight.

The property tax is about cartography of old. It is a means to knowing every family unit so the property tax is a means to that end. The person who bought the 3 bed semi detached in Offaly for £50,000 recently versus the one who paid £250,000 in Castleknock makes ask the question: house is a house but the differential in value because of locations makes it a most inequitable tax.

People who live in Fatima Mansions who have worked in the community employment schemes, who have taken the route of back to education and who have gone on to third level see their hopes dashed as the promised Public Private Partnerships become but a memory of the arrogance of Celtic Tiger Ireland. O'Devaney Gardens faces depletion of families and disbursement of communities instead of what was promised. Their losses are compounded because promises have no hope of every happening now.

Starbucks, Google and the tax breaks to the multi-nationals yes created employment in Ireland but Ireland has provided these companies with an excellent infrastructure and an educated labour force. This would not be the case if they say chose Zimbabwe, if it offered no corporation tax at all. The truth is an extra 1%-2% would be acceptable and the yield significant. Also what about a financial transaction tax. The Irish lived for many years from the remittances from America, now we have immigrants living in our country who send remittances home, a tax charge on these amounts and all other transactions makes common sense.

What are the Government commitments to build employment? Are we seriously going to address our existing housing stock, revoke the craftmanship ethos that ones provided employment via ANCO and get people back working, studying, doing something. The problem in Europe is that there are too many young people out of work. They call them NEETs (sorry I don't know what this stands for) but no doubt it is derogatory.

Blake

by newsmedia Thu Dec 06, 2012 03:41

-Well what do you know? So who is calling the shots here? Certainly not our "elected" representatives but the corporate sector who have bought have sold politicians for many decades now.-

Let's not waste words , our 'elected politcians' are parasitic weasel-livered trash who are happy to drive their own people back into the dark ages.

I can say no more.