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Sat 12 Dec 2009With taxpayers spared pain it was inevitable poor would pay
Hard to see how welfare cuts can be justified in one of the world’s most under-taxed countries
ALTHOUGH NO one is actively celebrating the achievement of a further €4 billion fiscal adjustment, that is, of course, the most important feature of the Budget. To this should be added the further €3.5 billion of fiscal adjustments for next year that had already been secured as a result of the carry-forward effects of budgetary decisions taken earlier this year. So the cumulative impact of these adjustments upon the out-turn of 2010 will now be €7.5 billion – or almost 2.5 per cent of forecasted GNP.
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