Creative taxes nobody will feel

wylo

Hi,
After hearing this morning about the idea of a text tax, I have to admit I was quite impressed with the creativity of it.
2Billion texts sent in the last 3 months of 2008
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/idojojmhkf/

1c per text = 20million , mulitiply that by 4 is 80million in one year.

Ok its not a massive amount but if you could think of loads of really creative ways of taking the penneys of the people without them noticing then whats the problem? Can you image another 10 or 11 ideas like this, thats another billion.
Any across the board taxes that people dont feel should be encouraged imo.
Theres a thread like this in after hours but more of a piss take, just wondering can anyone else think of creative ways of taxing people. Just little things where were all putting a few cents here and there.

RobAMerc

a €1 charge to use the kazzy? ( admittedly not my idea )

with all the ****e that comes outta those tools we'd be out of trouble in no time.

TGPS

It would at least pay for the HPV vaccinations!

TGPS
http://thisgruntledpublicservant.blogspot.com/

cavedave

Tax those crimes you cannot stop. So those that take place between consenting adults. Drugs, prostitution are the libertarian regular ones. But what else is there? A tax on polygamous marriages? A tax on euthanasia?

How about a tax on pollution? You can smoke in a pub if you pay 100 euro, something like that. If this is silly so is a carbon tax

Or if your not willing to tax sex and drugs how about their complementary goods? Clear heels and rolly papers..

BroomBurner

They should legalise all downloads and stick a tax on 'em

Put a tax on candles, then have regular black outs. This will also help to stop the unnecessary selling burning of unnecessary "pretty" candles.

Tax takeaways, 1% on every order every time you get a takeaway.

Sleepy

Along the lines of what cavedave is suggesting: legalise marijuana and tax it. Should have the added bonus of cutting down on crime and boosting tourism too...

ATM tax - 1 cent per transaction. Anyone looking to avoid it can go into the branch and cost the people who got us into this mess money.

A receipt tax? Well worth an extra 5c for anything that you might return or have problems with but they're utterly pointless for small transactions / most grocery shopping.

Broadband tax 5/10 euro a year?

Breakfast Roll tax. They're awful for your health.

A tax on celebrity gossip magazines. Just because they're awful things. :P

amcalester

A tax on threads?

(dont think that'll go down well)

gurramok

Tax the paper bags that come with takeaways!

Better still, tax all paper shopping bags, throw a few cent on them at the point of purchase. A green environmentally tax they'll call it

mikemac

BroomBurner wrote: »

Tax takeaways, 1% on every order every time you get a takeaway.

Decent idea

Take O'Briens for example. A fresh sandwich has no vat but if you get it toasted you then pay VAT as it enters a new category. Around 80c

Simple enough to rack up this tax rate. And if the majority of it are 6 euro sandwiches at lunchtimes and takeaways and junk food, then what harm?

wylo

Sleepy wrote: »

Along the lines of what cavedave is suggesting: legalise marijuana and tax it. Should have the added bonus of cutting down on crime and boosting tourism too...

ATM tax - 1 cent per transaction. Anyone looking to avoid it can go into the branch and cost the people who got us into this mess money.

A receipt tax? Well worth an extra 5c for anything that you might return or have problems with but they're utterly pointless for small transactions / most grocery shopping.

Broadband tax 5/10 euro a year?

Breakfast Roll tax. They're awful for your health.

A tax on celebrity gossip magazines. Just because they're awful things. :P

Some nice ideas there, I like the bank one!!!!

ejmaztec

I would suggest that the description to cover all of these odd taxes would be "Carpet Tax".

gurramok

Tax any food that is high in calories such as cookies, publicise these foods as bad for you, a 'bad food' tax!

Dark_lord_ire

wylo wrote: »

Hi,
After hearing this morning about the idea of a text tax, I have to admit I was quite impressed with the creativity of it.
2Billion texts sent in the last 3 months of 2008
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/idojojmhkf/

1c per text = 20million , mulitiply that by 4 is 80million in one year.

Ok its not a massive amount but if you could think of loads of really creative ways of taking the penneys of the people without them noticing then whats the problem? Can you image another 10 or 11 ideas like this, thats another billion.
Any across the board taxes that people dont feel should be encouraged imo.
Theres a thread like this in after hours but more of a piss take, just wondering can anyone else think of creative ways of taxing people. Just little things where were all putting a few cents here and there.

Not a bad idea at all.

Another idea what about for the average 8 hour a day worker we work extra 30 mins of day i mean would we really notice it and the gov could have the proceeds. I'm sure with your country needs you speech most including me would do it

The_Minister

Sleepy wrote: »

Along the lines of what cavedave is suggesting: legalise marijuana and tax it. Should have the added bonus of cutting down on crime and boosting tourism too.

Due to international treaties that we have signed, and certain rules in the EU, we can't actually do that.

wylo

ejmaztec wrote: »

I would suggest that the description to cover all of these odd taxes would be "Carpet Tax".

Well whatever it should be called I think its time some initiative is taken, even if some of the taxes are unorthodox and sometimes laughable i think its worth it.
The important thing is that nobody feels the pain, just a vast amount of contributions from EVERYBODY

The advantages are

-nobody is getting a "worse deal" than anyone else
-nobody will notice paying a cent or 2 all the time
-spending wont drop (unlike if income taxes are raised)
-some suggestions encourage healthy living
-its possible other countries will follow suit, improving our reputation

With the possible exception of the homeless people, I dont think there is anyone in this country that actually knowsif they have lost 5c or not from their wallet in any given day.

We can sit around all day and give out about Fianna Fail and their fook ups but I think its time we started putting forward suggestions ourselves, cause despite problems with our government there is no denying that we have a deficit that has to be dealt with.

AlekSmart

I reckon we should tax big windows....far too much glass around us these days

Sleepy

The_Minister wrote: »

Due to international treaties that we have signed, and certain rules in the EU, we can't actually do that.

Sure don't the words 'due to the current ecnomic climate' get you out of any commitments at the moment?

(yes, I am still bitter about being on a pay freeze while being as busy or busier than I have been for the last 6 years)

cavedave

The_Minister

Due to international treaties that we have signed, and certain rules in the EU, we can't actually do that.

How do the Dutch get around this? Is it that they have decriminalised it rather then legalised + taxed it?

*edit it seems to be tolerated not even decriminalised
"The tolerance guidelines appear in appendix of the Opium Act. The Opium Act states very clearly that every part of the hemp plant is banned except for the seeds – this is in accordance with many of the international treaties which the Netherlands have signed. It is for this reason Cannabis cannot be legalised in the Netherlands."

Akrasia

Tax newspaper supplements.
They're just subtle propaganda anyway, style sections for people that would never buy a glossy magazine in case it might fall open and they're enticed to buy a fraudulent cosmetic product

Tax cosmetics, any product that has an advertisement where Photoshop or eyelash extensions are used (call it the gullibility tax)

Tax hippy medicine, especially the glorified water they call 'homeopathy' (call it the really gullible tax)

Dave!

Put a tax of 1c on, well, anything costing more than 99c.

You'd hardly notice it, and people must buy billions of things every year that would qualify And maybe have €1 on anything costing more than €99.

5c tax on teabags (not per teabag!)

Jamfan

I propose a Copper Face Jacks tax

Coppers is haunted by all manners of civil servants:

The Garda: crime is going to spiral, so it's boomtimes for the oinksters.

Revenue: serious pedant horn about making sure that you pay every penny. They'll be hiring lots and lots of bloodhounds.

Social Welfare: what with poverty queues like in Weimar Republic Germany it will take years to deal with these hordes of Great Unwashed, hence having to hire extra people.

Langerland

Tax on residential internet usage....Pirate movies levy!

Impose higher duties on alcohol sold from Off-licenses and Supermarkets. Maybe even reduce it for pubs and restaurants >>> need to be a low cost tourist destination.

Foreign holiday tax. Tax breaks for those who holiday in Ireland. Improve competitiveness, keep money in the economy.

Tax multi-million pound premiership footballers who want to play for the country!

Sleepy

Dave! wrote: »

Put a tax of 1c on, well, anything costing more than 99c.

You'd hardly notice it, and people must buy billions of things every year that would qualify And maybe have €1 on anything costing more than €99.

5c tax on teabags (not per teabag!)

A rounding up tax? Wouldn't that just spike inflation as retailers decided they'd rather have the extra cent than hand it over to the state?

spank_inferno

An increase in the VAT level of luxury & unhealthy items from 21% to 25%.
* With the exception of telecoms/broadband costs.
A concurrent reduction in VAT (if not already at the 13.5% rate) on fruits & vegtables.

A consistent repeated increase in the Excise/Duty tax for Alchol & tobacco.
Smaller increases every 2/3 months rather than once a year would make it easier to obsorb.

A special levy on disposable fast food containers.
If people are happy to buy from the "sh*t in a tray" merchants they wont mind paying 50c for the container it came in.

Means test child welfare. Why rich people get this payment is beyond me.

cavedave

spank_inferno

Means test child welfare. Why rich people get this payment is beyond me.

One explanation I have heard for why it is not means tested is that in the past it was not uncommon enough for a husband to spend, gamble or just ration money to his wife and kids. At least with children allowance the money was given to the mother so there was some income available to children. Now that women can more easily work and earn money, divorce/separate and other cultural changes this reasoning may not have as much weight. I could be wrong about this explanation as to child welfare has not been means tested historically.

P. Breathnach

spank_inferno wrote: »

Means test child welfare. Why rich people get this payment is beyond me.

Costly, and politically contentious. And there is some validity in cavedave's point that some women need an assured source of funds other than what their partners might provide (although I suspect that is a less important factor than it was 30 years ago).

But it is simple to tax it.

is_that_so

There's a lot of denial at work here. The text messaging tax might bring in €100 million. Any other taxes that don't involve hitting income or property are in the ha'penny place. As for the Child Benefit, The Commission on Taxation is expected to report on that and it is likely to be taxed in some way.

My notions apart the obvious income and property taxes.

Ministerial pensions cancelled until they actually leave the Dail.
Do an Aer Lingus on all advisers. Fire 'em, reduce the numbers and get them back at a lower rate.
Cap public salaries.
Levy on all takeaways.
New vouched expenses scheme for all politicians.
Tax exiles: Use it or lose it.

JonathanAnon

Dark_lord_ire wrote: »

Another idea what about for the average 8 hour a day worker we work extra 30 mins of day

So the Public sector equivalent would be an extra
5 minutes work / 25 minutes coffee and chat ?

Ironbars

AlekSmart wrote: »

I reckon we should tax big windows....far too much glass around us these days

This is an old one, might work
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_tax

MadsL

How do the Dutch get around this? Is it that they have decriminalised it rather then legalised + taxed it?

*edit it seems to be tolerated not even decriminalised
"The tolerance guidelines appear in appendix of the Opium Act. The Opium Act states very clearly that every part of the hemp plant is banned except for the seeds – this is in accordance with many of the international treaties which the Netherlands have signed. It is for this reason Cannabis cannot be legalised in the Netherlands."

I believe licenced coffee shops pay a licence fee.

Not a bad idea for Ireland, legalise licenced growers and outlets (coffee shops) and tax them. You would need some kind of supervison of production/consumption, a bit like the tax stamp on cig packets

jimmmy

Instead of "creative taxes" we should bring our countries spending under control. Why should other countries continue to lend us vast sums of money ( 25 billion plus ? ) when Gerry the Guard and Nora the nurse and Paddy the politician are all paid so much more ( 40% ) than the best of their counterparts in Boston, Berlin and Birmingham ?

P. Breathnach

JonathanAnon wrote: »

So the Public sector equivalent would be an extra
5 minutes work / 25 minutes coffee and chat ?

Is the private sector equivalent 5 minutes work and 25 minutes bitching about the public sector?

JonathanAnon

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Is the private sector equivalent 5 minutes work and 25 minutes bitching about the public sector?

LOL

nhughes100

Fintan O'Toole said on Prime time the other night that if they abolished tax relief on private pensions then that would generate 2billion overnight in savings. Nobody disputed his numbers and it hardly seems fair that public sector workers get a double whammy on pension contributions and Fintan gets 200 quid a month in tax relief for his pension.

All the old reliables are going up, petrol and diesel and home heating oil, childrens allowance to be cut and means tested, no more child care assistance grant, dole to be cut, relief in tax designated counties/housing schems to be gone, booze and fags severely up. It would help if they came up with a public sector voluntary redundancy scheme. Lots of people would take it, pay of the mortgage, sell up and get the fudge outta town.

is_that_so

nhughes100 wrote: »

Fintan O'Toole said on Prime time the other night that if they abolished tax relief on private pensions then that would generate 2billion overnight in savings. Nobody disputed his numbers and it hardly seems fair that public sector workers get a double whammy on pension contributions and Fintan gets 200 quid a month in tax relief for his pension.

All the old reliables are going up, petrol and diesel and home heating oil, childrens allowance to be cut and means tested, no more child care assistance grant, dole to be cut, relief in tax designated counties/housing schems to be gone, booze and fags severely up. It would help if they came up with a public sector voluntary redundancy scheme. Lots of people would take it, pay of the mortgage, sell up and get the fudge outta town.

Moore McDowell had him for breakfast on Pat Kenny the following day. Kenny also took him to task. O'Toole is an ass at the best of times. These days he seems to go in for shouting people down and then talking so quickly that no-one can get a word in edgeways. Regrettably he seems to think he's the best authority on everything.

djpbarry

spank_inferno wrote: »

A concurrent reduction in VAT (if not already at the 13.5% rate) on fruits & vegtables.

Unless I'm very much mistaken, VAT is not charged on fresh food.

Nice to see some proactive posts – some good ideas in here too. Makes a change from all the threads calling for riots and the overthrowing of the government.

jimmmy

nhughes100 wrote: »

Fintan O'Toole said on Prime time the other night that if they abolished tax relief on private pensions then that would generate 2billion overnight in savings. Nobody disputed his numbers and it hardly seems fair that public sector workers get a double whammy on pension contributions and Fintan gets 200 quid a month in tax relief for his pension.

Totally wrong : public sector workers do not get a double whammy on pension contributions ...they do not even pay the full economic cost of their pension. If they did it would be over 25% of their salary. As well as that, if public sector workers decide to take out a private pension they get tax relief on that to the same extent as private sector workers.
However, tax relief on all pensions should be cut. And public sector workers should pay the proper cost of their pensions, the same as everyone else. Otherwise take their pensions away.

nhughes100

jimmmy wrote: »

Totally wrong : public sector workers do not get a double whammy on pension contributions ...they do not even pay the full economic cost of their pension. If they did it would be over 25% of their salary. As well as that, if public sector workers decide to take out a private pension they get tax relief on that to the same extent as private sector workers.
However, tax relief on all pensions should be cut. And public sector workers should pay the proper cost of their pensions, the same as everyone else. Otherwise take their pensions away.

It's not totally wrong, if you pay 200 euro a month into the fund before the levy, you will now pay double that and you will get nothing like the tax relief that a private pension would give you. There's one whammy, 2nd whammy is that private pensions get much better tax relief then public sector, triple whammy is that there is no choice in public sector pension contributions. Fourth whammy due to the cost of the public sector pension contributions few people in the PS could afford a private pension and sure they're so great anyway why would you want to? Give me a break. Feel free to take my pension away, I'd get great tax relief on 400 quid a month I could invest in my own pension scheme. Oh and I just thougth of a fifth whammy, even if you're not in the pension scheme and work in the public sector you still have to pay the levy!

t-ha

More tax on top-hats and cigars.

Hit those fat-cats.

ixoy

t-ha wrote: »

Hit those fat-cats.

100% tax on leading brands like Whiskas - if the cats have less to eat, they won't be so fat.

jester77

Water charges like in most other countries.

cavedave

jester77
Water charges like in most other countries.

I think people would feel that. And if most places are doing it its hardly very creative.

jester77

cavedave wrote: »

I think people would feel that. And if most places are doing it its hardly very creative.

Well, the water doesn't magically get purified and delivered to the tap for free.

r0nanf

jester77 wrote: »

Water charges like in most other countries.

I'm sure Galwegians would love the idea of having to pay for their supply of cryptosporidium...:rolleyes:

cavedave

jester77

Well, the water doesn't magically get purified and delivered to the tap for free.

I never claimed it was. The topic is "Creative taxes nobody will feel" and the one you mentioned was neither creative nor unnoticeable.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Like the Text message idea. Might run into trouble though. When I top up by £10 I get a fwe hundred free texts to other UK phones. Do ROI operators have anything similar?

professore

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Like the Text message idea. Might run into trouble though. When I top up by £10 I get a fwe hundred free texts to other UK phones. Do ROI operators have anything similar?

Yes, but you pay for the texts as part of your top-up, they're not free !!!! If they were free you would pay £ 0 for your top-up. It amazes me how people go on about their "free" texts. It's like a pub charging you for a glass and putting "free" beer in it.

jdivision

Dark_lord_ire wrote: »

Another idea what about for the average 8 hour a day worker we work extra 30 mins of day i mean would we really notice it and the gov could have the proceeds. I'm sure with your country needs you speech most including me would do it

Most private sector workers already work unpaid hours. I work about 50 hours a week, get paid for 35. This is the norm in my industry.
If you wanted to be controversial instead of legalising marijuana, you could legalise and tax prostitution. France and numerous other places already do this.

Myggel

An ANYTHING Tax. If you buy anything, get taxed 1c. Nobody would notice that - sure feck it make it 2c a transaction!

Surely we must have billions of transactions every year.

cavedave

jdivision

If you wanted to be controversial instead of legalising marijuana, you could legalise and tax prostitution. France and numerous other places already do this.

That is not that controversial. How about tax all crime? And only those who cannot pay go to jail. So if you commit a murder but can pay 1 million you get off. We could turn Leitrim into some sort of human hunting range...

t-ha

cavedave wrote: »

...the one you mentioned was neither creative nor unnoticeable.

How about a ninja tax?! Sure those feckers are everywhere & pay nothin'!