thebudget

[max power]

so what gonna happen, i think the fags will go up ( good news ) and i have heard that car tax is going up also ( bad news )

but what areas should be looked at, i feel child care should be a major issue, the amount of money some couples are payin out on top of a mortgage each month is a scandal, it should at least be tax deductable.

also with the price of fuel at the moment there should be no increase in excise duty on petrol/diesel and people on minium wage should be taken out of the tax net asap.

the various tax loopholes in this country should be looked at as well, the news that a number of millionaries paid NO TAX last year was disgustin, ii know it was tax avoidance whish is legal, BUT these loopholes should be closed.

[Macy]

What I'd like to see is the minimum wage taken out of the tax net, and the bands increased in line with inflation since their last increase. However, I reckon he may move towards the former, and compromise on the latter (whilst hailing it as a tax cut, when it isn't). I don't expect much to change, and do expect that they'll throw in something totally illconceived and unrelated to shift focus as they did last year with decentralisation.

Smokes will defo go up - their losing too much money through the smoking ban...

[carrickharp]

He better not go near the car tax, you should see the shape of some of the roads around home the poor motorist seems to be an easy target for this shower, tax the feckin horse crowd.

[Gary]

Minimum wage gone from tax net.

Stamp duty to be done away with for first time buyers of certain housing. What certain means I dont know.

Tax credits go from €200+ to €1200 per month .

So far so good.

[max power]

i think the car tax thing was annocuned in advance, all i know is that it is a rip off, my tax is 144 for 3 months, thats a rip off in any book, its almost as much as my insurance.

the certain house this is under a value of 350,000 and i think they must be second hand ? i'm buildin so it won't help me

[carrickharp]

No tax on the feckin Cigs WTF

[BrayUnknowns]

http://www.rte.ie/news/features/budget2005/speech.html

[Macy]

If it's a generous one, FF wil be accused of trying to build the vote back up before the next Election.

Disagree Conor, depends on who he's generous too. If he's like McCreevy he'll be disproportionately generous to the rich, and will deserve to be hammered as right wing. Increases in indirect taxes while reducing income tax is a right wing policy, and that's what McCreevy did.

[tiktok]

Which will no doubt result in an increase in the prices charged for such houses...

seeing as I forked over in excess of €8000 in stamp duty for the house I bought two months ago, that's only a slight compensation.

[Dodge]

Bought a house in last month, stamp duty was six and a half grand...

However we got the house at 12 grand under market value as the seller had agreed a sale with another buyer and needed a quick sale. Still though...

Doesn't look like a right wing budget to me. Decent Social Welfare increases, small (but significant) increses to tax credits and an upping of the standard band. No VAT increase, no increase to excise duty on fags, booze or petrol

[dahamsta]

Stamp duty to be done away with for first time buyers of certain housing. What certain means I dont know.

F[size=2]irst-time buyers on second-hand houses up to €317,000 apparently.[/size]
[size=2][/size]
[size=2]Anyone got a loan of €317,000? You know I'm good for it.[/size]
[size=2][/size]
[size=2]adam
[/size]

[tiktok]

As I say though, I suspect that €10k will end up being tacked onto the house price, the marketplace is a *******...

You're probably right.
Banks give out 92% mortgages maximum (with some exceptions).

E.g. Previously on a €250,000 house someone needed a €20,000 deposit plus and extra €7,500 for stamp duty, i.e. had to save €27,500 before legal fees.

Someone that has saved that €27,500 can now use it all as deposit, and can apply for a mortgage of well over €300,000. From my point of view, I hope it does push prices up.

[Macy]

As I say though, I suspect that €10k will end up being tacked onto the house price, the marketplace is a *******...

I'd say the houses that go up will be the one's that were artificially held at the Stamp Duty threshold. Actually not too bad of a thing, however, do a lot of second hand houses fall under that level, particularly in the Dublin market? Maybe extra tax relief for first time buyers would have been better - caught more people, and because people building have been hit twice in the last few years - first time buyers grant going, and then the development levies (can be a lot more than the stamp duty charges).

My opinions on the budget - disappointed, but it was a bit of non event. Pleased that indirect taxes haven't gone up (on top of ESB, Eircom, VHI, hospital charges etc).

Extremely disappointed that the tax bands weren't widened more. Most of that money will be eaten up by the increased charges, and 2% was due yesterday under sustaining progress. Even the minimum wage is under review and is likely to increase in the middle of next year to bring it back in the tax net.

Thought they'd be something on childcare, but again nothing. Also despite Bertie's promises this morning, I think they should've brought in some kind of minimum payment for the ones that are escaping paying any tax due to the various loopholes. Even a nominal 10k or something this year in lieu of this review (which was promised last year wasn't it?). Similarly there should be something done about horsey and artist exemptions - maximum income threshold for exemption....

Like I said, pretty much as you were (compared to last year - not compared to 2 years ago).

[patsh]

FF wil be accused of trying to build the vote back up before the next Election.

Accusation is hardly the word, when one is merely stating the truth......

[patsh]

Patsh, you don't need to be walked through the world of difference between opinion and fact. It may well be the opinions of those who absolutely despise FF and view everything through that prism that it's a vote catcher, those who support the government may view things differently, but neither is susceptible to objective proof.

Are you trying to say that Ahern's "socialism", his careful orchestration of media interviews and the "message" in them, the barbs at "right-wing commentators", the adoption of most of CORI's agenda, the isolation of McDowell, is not part of a plan to "win" back the electorate and votes?
That these things are all coincidence, and that FF has actually been left of centre and worried about the poorer sections of our society all along, but we just didn't notice it?
Claim what you like, but it is a FACT that FF are worried about the results of the last elections and have a planned, co-ordinated strategy, which includes media profiles, the budget and various speeches designed to put clear distance between them and their own policies of the last 7 years, in order to win votes. You can be either objective or subjective in your views, but that is not an opinion, it is a FACT.

[aidz1]

well im just fukin sickened
stamp duty quashed....a few months too late for me mate
paid 7.5k in stamp duty 3 months ago
people may say, well its paid now ...forget about it
i could ....only thing was i took a loan out with the credit union to pay it...
so its still lying there to be paid
does the bleeding ff governemt feel like they should pay this off for me please....like fuk it will

[Macy]

does the bleeding ff governemt feel like they should pay this off for me please....like fuk it will

In all fairness, they could back date it 3 months, you'd be happy and then someone would be on saying they paid stamp duty 6 months ago. It's arse when you're on the wrong side of dates, but there has to be some cut off. I'm sure there's (foolish) people that signed for houses yesterday morning - extra thousands of costs for the sake of a few hours...

[patsh]

As valid a fact as my opinion that Pat Rabbitte is no more a socialist than Margaret Thatcher...or that Joe Higgins doesn't REALLY care that much about bin taxes but it's a sure fire vote winner in Finglas...it's all opinion and coloured by our bias, and you are as biased against FF as I am for them, which makes both our opinions equally vaild...or of course equally invalid...

As usual, you ignored my post, to have another little rant about Rabbite.
What has your opinion of Pat Rabbite (who you bring into EVERY post about FF.. ) got to do with FF's plan to win back votes?
Instead of waffling on, again, about Rabbite, answer the question I posed to you.
If you don't want to answer it, fair enough. Go on pretending that your party is not trying to win back votes, and carry on in your fantasy that it's only bias that makes me, and virtually everybody else in this country, believe the facts I see before me.

[dahamsta]

I think the point may be that FF are prioritising vote-gathering over, you know, running the country in a decent way. They have a proven history of playing to the voters in the run up to an election and then going back on the promises they made just beforehand. Don't insult our intelligence by trying to deny it, it's as plain as the nose on your face.

Also, wouldn't you agree that saying Rabbitte isn't a socialist is the same as saying Bertie is? I'm pretty sure you could come up with a better argument than "I'm rubber, you're glue" if you put your mind to it.

adam

[patsh]

You posted this

FF wil be accused of trying to build the vote back up before the next Election

I posted this in reply.

Accusation is hardly the word, when one is merely stating the truth......

You then replied with this

It may well be the opinions of those who absolutely despise FF and view everything through that prism that it's a vote catcher

I replied that

is not an opinion, it is a FACT
(that FF were trying their hardest to get votes back)

You repeated your assertion that as I am biased against FF, my claim that they were trying to win votes back was

you are as biased against FF ........opinions..........

and now you end up with

Ummmmmm hate to state the extremely obvious, but I suspect that every party wants to win votes.

So you start off by saying that FF will be accused of trying to win votes back, I say it's not an accusation, but a fact, you claim I am just posting a biased opinion not a fact, and at the very end say that in actual fact, yes FF are trying to win votes.
So you are either
sort of not agreeing with me, but ending up contradicting yourself
or
agreeing with me, thus contradicting yourself!

FF are running scared of the electorate and trying their hardest to win back votes any way they can. It's not a crime, there is nothing wrong with it, it's not unusual, it's simply a FACT, and for once can't you simply admit that that is what they are doing......
and eh, agree with me!