Budget Day 1: a recap at a glance
Dublin-based McCarthy Accountants and Loud SEO have teamed up to create this impactful infographic of the cuts announced yesterday. And to think we are only half way through!
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Herald Budget predictions: round two
The Evening Herald is splashing with the headline “Smash, Now Grab” as it reveals what it expects to be included in the tax measures of Budget 2012 that Michael Noonan will announce this afternoon. The Herald wasn’t as accurate as usual in yesterday’s predictions, but it did have some details that weren’t out elsewhere, such as the closure of Garda stations.
Here’s their main predictions for today:
- 2 percntage point increase in VAT (thank you German parliamentary budget committee)
- PRSI to cover rental income
- 5-10 per cent hike in motor tax (will raise €50 million)
- Unspecified increase in Dirt tax on savings
- €100 household charge
- Carbon tax increase on petrol, diesel and heating oil
Most of this of course has been out already. Despite the attention grabbing headlines it seems the Herald is not getting the same standard of Budget leaks from the FG/Lab government that it did from FF administrations.
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Shakespeare’s thoughts on Budget 2012
For a little light relief before the brutal cuts, a reader emailed us with an amusing re-write of one of the most famous speeches in Hamlet. “Shakespeare can be a fruitful source for reflection, even on budgetry issues, as my above adaptation offers,” she wrote. Here it is in full:
Hamlet’s Pre-budget reflection:
To spend or not to spend, that is the question
Whether its prudent in hindsight to accept the
Guarantees from Bankers for outrageous fortune;
Or to take cash, avoiding dodgy credit troubles,
And by debiting, end them. To spend to save
No more, and by that saving, say we end
The headache and the thousand fiscal shocks
That cash is heir to. Is it a consumerism
Devoutly to be wished? To spend, to save
To save, nay, e’er give alms – Ay there’s the rub!
For in that act of faith what value may accrue
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil
Must give us pause. There’s one aspect
That makes calamity of an inner life.
For who would hear insider tips- a source of crime:
The investors wronged, the profit margin’s increase;
The pain of repossession, the Creditor’s repay,
The insolence of office of one who earns
More than is merit yet unworthily takes,
While another might his fortunes make?
With a mere mouse click!
Who would such bad faith bear,
To grind an sweat under a weary life;
But that dread of something beyond debt;
The pre-determined debt-ratio, from whose burden
No Government dares retrieve, sweetens the pill,
And makes us rather pay those debts we have
Than buy in others that we know not of.
Thus indebtedness makes vassals of us all.
And thus the natural mode of self-determination
Is ensnared o’er with the dark clouds of debt.
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With interest their currency turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
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Some traditions the same for Budget 2012
It’s long been an Irish political tradition that the main points of the Budget are leaked to the Evening Herald. Despite the move to a two day Budget speech, that tradition has been maintained and the Herald has splashed the details on the front page under the headline “Budget 2012 Revealed”.
The main points are:
- Child benefit cut to the standard rate of €140 across the board (a family with four children looses €768 a year)
- The €200 back to school allowance scrapped
- 40 Garda stations to be closed, mostly in Dublin area
- €500-600 million in social welfare cuts
- College registration fees rising €250 to €2,250
- Fuel allowance only available for 26 weeks
- A household charge of €100 will be introduced raising €160 million
- Standard unemployment and pension payments unchanged
- Cuts to education budgets of €200 million
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Budget 2012 – the view from the analysts
The mood music set by Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s televised address to the nation last night suggests that Budget 2012, which is being revealed over the next two days, is likely to be brutal.
“I wish I could tell you that the Budget won’t impact on every citizen in need, but I can’t,” Mr Kenny said.
While there is plenty of speculation about what may or not be under threat from the Budget, here’s a round up of what various analysts around town are predicting. (more…)
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Our coverage of Budget 2012
Next week’s Budget 2012 will be historic in many ways – not least that the traditional budget speech by the Minister for Finance detailing the spending cuts or increases and how they will be funded will be delivered over two days.
In this game of two halves Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform Brendan Howlin will announce the budgets or votes for different Departments in a speech in the Dail beginning at 2.30 next Monday. The following day Minister for Finance Michael Noonan will unveil the various tax measures to support the spending announced the previous day.
While the logic of spreading the pain over two days remains unclear, we do know for certain that Fine Gael and Labour are going to unveil the fifth austerity budget in a row which aims to make savings of close to €4 billion. We also know that VAT at the top rate will go up 2 percentage points to 23 per cent, a flat rate €100 “property tax” or household charge will be introduced, capital gains tax, motor tax, carbon taxes and Dirt look set to be increased significantly, while the axe will likely fall heavily on education and health.
Despite the number of kites that have been flown in advance of Budget Day(s) there are still going to be a lot of surprises as the Government attempts to meet the targets imposed by the troika. The Irish Times will have a full package of online and offline coverage to help you assess the impact on your pocket or your business.
We’ll be live blogging both speeches with the main points as well as commentary, while we’ll also have a video feed from the Oireachtas. On Twitter you can follow @IrishTimesBiz for the most comprehensive coverage of the speeches and reaction to them. Followes of @the_irish_times will get the main measures introduced.
On Tuesday and Wednesday morning, we’ll be running Ask the Expert sessions between 10am and noon, where personal finance experts from The Irish Times and PricewaterhouseCoopers will answer your questions on how the budget affects you. Irish Times reporters will also contribute video analysis on the measures introduced after the speeches have been delivered. You can find out how the budget will hit your pocket with our budget calculator.
In print we’ll be producing the definitive Budget 2012 coverage with special supplements in the newspaper on Tuesday and Wednesday featuring our team of expert writers including Miriam Lord, Dan O’Brien, Stephen Collins, Conor Pope and Ciaran Hancock.
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