Budget 2015 Warmups

Nat O'Connor26/09/2014

Nat O'Connor: Interesting remarks by Minister Noonan reported in The Irish Times.

On tax breaks, he is quoted as saying “I use tax breaks to get a particular economic or social response in the short term but I will not have it bedded in as a permanent feature of the tax code.” TASC has pointed to the problems of tax breaks for years, so keeping such tax breaks on a short time horizon represents a progressive move. However, tax breaks are still problematic because they disproportionately benefit high earners and distort business decision making.

“Because of the buoyancy in taxation from the growing economy” there will be no new austerity measures in the budget, Mr Noonan is quoted as saying. However, the devil is in the detail in this one. Presumably, the Minister is still banking on the €500 million from water charges and the €300 million efficiency savings due under the Haddington Road Agreement and other carry-overs from previous budgets. That means despite a genuine easing from higher tax yields and the IMF loan repayment deal there will still be a contraction of €800 million, which will dent GDP.

But the most illuminating quote was the following: The Government’s approach to the upcoming budget was simple, he said, “if we can continue to control expenditure and grow the economy, all things are possible. If the crazy spending starts again, not only will you use up the resources on the spending side but the signal will go out that the discipline has been removed from Irish economic management.”

This reinforces the message that this Government is fixated on cutting spending rather than striking a balance between tax and spending. To be clear, spending on health, education, housing and social protection needs to be funded by adequate tax and social insurance. However, if this Government is fixated on capping taxation at its current level, which is three-quarters of the EU average, it is clear that there will not be extra funding for a serious social housing policy nor extra funds needed for pre-school education nor increased provision for Ireland's growing number of pensioners in terms of State Pensions and health care, and so on.

Adequately and sensibly funding public spending is not "crazy spending". On the contrary, it is crazy not to invest in quality public services as an investment in people working and living in Ireland. Tax cuts represent just as much loss of "discipline".

Dr Nat O'Connor     @natpolicy

Nat O'Connor

Nat O’Connor is a member of the Institute for Research in Social Sciences (IRiSS) and a Lecturer of Public Policy and Public Management in the School of Criminology, Politics and Social Policy at Ulster University.

Previously Director of TASC, Nat also led the research team in Dublin’s Homeless Agency.

Nat holds a PhD in Political Science from Trinity College Dublin (2008) and an MA in Political Science and Social Policy form the University of Dundee (1998). Nat’s primary research interest is in how research-informed public policy can achieve social justice and human wellbeing. Nat’s work has focused on economic inequality, housing and homelessness, democratic accountability and public policy analysis. His PhD focused on public access to information as part of democratic policy making.


Share:



Comments

Newsletter Sign Up  

Categories

Contributors

Robert Sweeney

Robert Sweeney is a policy analyst at TASC and focuses on issues surrounding Irish …

Sean McCabe

Sean holds an B.Sc in Applied Physics from Dublin City University and an M.Sc. in …

Vic Duggan

Vic Duggan is an independent consultant, economist and public policy specialist catering …



Podcasts