Budget 2011 ideas

Denzil2222

This is what i think minister lenihan should do in budget 2011, abolish dole for under 21s, half dole from 21st till 25th birthday, cut child benifit to €100 per child per month and stop it on childs 17th birthday, cut state pension by 6 percent, abolish free tv licence and phone line rental for oaps and others, change medical card limits for over 70s to €450 per week for a single person and €900 for married couple, €10 levy on all new mobile phones, €2 on sim cards, plastic bag tax up to 50 cent per bag, extra €2 on 20 cigs, 51 percent tax rate for people earning over 300k, income levys up to 3, 6, and 9 percent.

Uriel.

Denzil2222 wrote: »

This is what i think minister lenihan should do in budget 2011, abolish dole for under 21s, half dole from 21st till 25th birthday, cut child benifit to €100 per child per month and stop it on childs 17th birthday, cut state pension by 6 percent, abolish free tv licence and phone line rental for oaps and others, change medical card limits for over 70s to €450 per week for a single person and €900 for married couple, €10 levy on all new mobile phones, €2 on sim cards, plastic bag tax up to 50 cent per bag, extra €2 on 20 cigs, 51 percent tax rate for people earning over 300k, income levys up to 3, 6, and 9 percent.

They will not touch the OAPs.

What will happen to people 18 - 21 who do not live at home or have parents to rely on? Sleep on the streets?

51% tax to drive out the high earners perceived highly skilled, educated and experienced people?

I can't see plastic bag tax bringing in much

Mobile phone levy could work possibly but again you are targetting a single industry and why should one just do that?

ardmacha

€10 levy on all new mobile phones, €2 on sim cards, plastic bag tax up to 50 cent per bag, extra €2 on 20 cigs,

Bags and fags are taxed as the government wishes to discourage their use. Arbitrarily picking other products for taxes is the type of thing we should be trying to get away from.

The government needs to do the obvious things it says it won't do. Bring more into the income tax net, reduce pensions by the rate of deflation, impose a tax on all houses with some exemption for those who bought recently, and bring back third level fees at the UK level.

RichardAnd

The problem is the CP agreement. Most departments spend 70% of their budget on wages and pensions which leaves only 30% left to cut. I don't like to have a go at PS workers as they get a bad rap too often on these boards but the government never should have agreed to such a deal and pay should have been cut bu 20% or so across the board, perhaps more in some areas.

So without the option of cutting pay, we're left with slim pickings and the only options are to cut services and benefits. I agree with the above poster though, OAPs will not be touched.

Bags and fags are taxed as the government wishes to discourage their use. Arbitrarily picking other products for taxes is the type of thing we should be trying to get away from.

Fags are not taxed to discourage use. they are taxed to make money. If the government really didn't want people smoking, they would put 100 euro tax on a pack of smokes. If every smoker quit tomorrow, we'd have a huge hole in our pocket from loss of revenue. As cynical and as bad as it sounds, we do not want people to stop smoking and drinking regardless of the social and health problems it causes.

questionmark?

Denzil2222 wrote: »

This is what i think minister lenihan should do in budget 2011, abolish dole for under 21s, half dole from 21st till 25th birthday, cut child benifit to €100 per child per month and stop it on childs 17th birthday, cut state pension by 6 percent, abolish free tv licence and phone line rental for oaps and others, change medical card limits for over 70s to €450 per week for a single person and €900 for married couple, €10 levy on all new mobile phones, €2 on sim cards, plastic bag tax up to 50 cent per bag, extra €2 on 20 cigs, 51 percent tax rate for people earning over 300k, income levys up to 3, 6, and 9 percent.

An extra 2 euro on cigs would not bring in any more money as people will simply turn to the black market as is already happening. I cant remember the figure but i believe its something like one in five packs are bought in this way and the figure will only go up with an extra €2 charge!

In regards the Dole how about a fellow who left school and started working at 16 and worked solidy paying his prsi contributions for three years do u tell him go on the streets as your too young to get the Dole?

BeeDI

Dole scrappage scheme as follows.

Offer a once off up front cash payment to people on the dole for more than say 18 months.
Agree to sign off and forfeit all rights to state unemployment support for 3 years, you get one years dole up front.
Agree to sign off for 5 years and you get 2 years peyment up front.

Uriel.

BeeDI wrote: »

Dole scrappage scheme as follows.

Offer a once off up front cash payment to people on the dole for more than say 18 months.
Agree to sign off and forfeit all rights to state unemployment support for 3 years, you get one years dole up front.
Agree to sign off for 5 years and you get 2 years peyment up front.

This is not going to help us. Our Biggest problem is our current cashflow. paying out lump sum payments now to save later is not going to help us. savings need to be realised now, your idea sees an increase in expenditure now. Couldnt happen!

Ren2k7

Rather than increase tax the government should look at scrapping as many tax credits as possible to increase the tax base. I would scrap all the following tax credits:

• PAYE Employee Tax Credit
• Personal Tax Credit
• Rent Credit
• Seafarers Credit
• Service Charges
• Trade Union Subscription
• Job Assist Credit
• Married Persons Taxation
• One Person Family Tax Credit

There's also a wide range of Tax Relief and Employee Expenses Reimbursement that could be done away with. Things like Meal Allowances and Travel Expenses for instance.

More here:

• Income Tax Credits
• Reliefs and Exemptions
• Employee Expenses
• Rental Income

If anyone thinks some tax credits listed above should be kept then I'd appreciate your comments.

Sunson

I'd like to see the annual €150million handout that goes from our pockets to RTE severely cut or for a start at least trimmed back.

Nody

I'd like to see a drop of starting at 1 year for social wellfare and dole (in all it's form). It should be starting at say 15% reduction after 1 year, 25% at start of year 3 and 40% at year 4 and 50% at year 5. These deductions should apply to ALL benefits (i.e. child benefits, rent relief etc.) that the receipent recieves. Any one who has not provided a full two years of PRSI in the last four years starts out on year 3 benefits %.

Since this is a wish list I'd also cap all salaries inc. ALL benefits for all PS (inc. our dear "friends" in the senate) at 100k a year before tax with out ANY exceptions. All existing double pension set ups to be abolished (only the highest paying to remain and only if they have no other income).

That would be a good start...

mikemac

Are you including consultant doctors and highly trained surgeons in that 100k salary cap?

changes

1. Transfer staff from overstaffed government depts to a new and ruthless social welfare fraud dept that comes under the overall control of the Gardai.

2. Tax rise on all alcohol sold in of licences and supermarkets.

3. Major cut in politicians income and expenses as an important gesture.

4. Cut child benefit completely for those earning more than 100K

5. Charge all Medical Card holders €5 per doctor visit

6. 1 cent on text messages

7. 3rd rate of tax on earnings in excess of 50K

8. Cut dole for all by 5%

9. Cut OAP by 5%

number10a

Introduce a change to dole/sickness benefit whereby you have to have worked for at least two years before you are eligible for anything. There are too many people who treat the dole as a career. I find it strange that a citizen from another EU state has to do this, yet I could have just finished school/college and walked straight in the door of the SW office. We make non-Irish people contribute to the economy for two years before they're entitled to anything, so we should do the same for Irish people.

Sell off the public transport companies. They cost too much money to run, unions love threatening strike because they're essentially State workers so they can get away with it, and if public transport was privately run, it would be far more efficient.

Not a budget thing, but allowing pubs to open 24 hours would mean more revenue from Irish people who stay out longer, and more tourists would be inclined to come here too. I imagine many people are put off coming here if they find out pubs close at 12:30 at weekends.

Seriously scale back the defence forces. We're not even UN-peacekeeping at the moment.

Introduce a tax on the old-style inefficient lightbulbs. Raises money and encourages people to buy the energy efficient ones.

Abolish the €10 flight tax. €10 is a lot for a European flight, considering you can go almost anywhere in Europe for €60, so it's a deciding factor when people are booking their holidays - e.g. Ireland €70 vs. Italy €60, which would you choose if you live in sunny Belgium??

I don't know how it can be done, but surely some mathematical/economic expert can work out how to make it 99% certain that you can't earn more on SW than working. At the same time, something needs to be done so that you can take up a part-time job that pays less than the dole and that you're not punished financially for doing so.

That whole 0% tax on artists thing - lower the earning limit from €250,000 to €100,000. At present, if you earn less than 250k it 0% tax, over 250K only half of your income is counted for tax purposes. Change this to something like 80%, or even scrap it altogether.

€110 million on forestry - need I say more. Trees can grow unaided. Plant them and leave them off for 30/40 years.

Contributing money to fee-paying schools should be scrapped.

With UK VAT going up to 20% in January, lower ours to match to try to discourage cross-border shopping. It will not make things the same price as in NI, but it will do something to help.

A wealth tax for those who earn fèck all but have millions stashed away. At the same time, some measures will be needed to ensure that the tax isn't too much to make everyone run for Switzerland, or else some measures to make offshore holdings illegal (not sure if they are or not already).

Do not touch corporation tax.

Seth Brundle

For a start, salaries and pensions for Ministers, TDs, Senators, etc. to be cut in half.
Pensions for any sitting members to be reduced to 1 cent per annum until the national retirement age (78?).
Expenses to be fully and completely vouched for & complete details published online.

waffleman

the political system sickens me too - vote buying quangos for friends of ff need to be sorted out for sure

I can't find the thread but someone posted that Cowen is the 4th highest paid leader in the world and we're broke. For a country of under 4.5 million people that is nuts. Enough really is enough at this stage.

The opposition are useless too - they say they want to sort out the banks but all they really want is to get on the gravy train and keep it rolling.

gurramok

As well transport and political system changes that were mentioned..

Slash Mortgage Interest Relief and Rental Supplement. A few hundred million saving right there which will help lower accommodation costs.

Introduce property tax, preferably a fair one(whatever that may entail)

Lower tax on alcohol(spirits only) to make sure cross border shopping is a thing of the past as booze shopping is the incentive to go up north.

Scrap/reduce heavily VRT & motor tax and replace it with a fuel tax. It will help car sales as cars would get cheaper and a pay as you use fuel system would be good for the environment.

Reduce Child benefit for those who have more than 2 kids no matter what your income is. You need to afford kids before bringing them into the world as 2 is more than enough for population replacement.

Reduce Lone Parents allowance and encourage marriage by financially incentivising it which will help stamp out social welfare fraud from single mothers.

Introduce 3rd level fees for those that can afford it(workers who earn over 25k). Education has to be paid for somehow as alot of Uni's/colleges are going broke.

Make it attractive to work for parents(single or married) as the welfare amount right now does not make it worthwhile to work(see points 5 & 6)

Scrap or heavily reduce pension tax relief for those who earn more 35k. No need for this for people who earn decent money.

Severely reduce the dole for those who never worked, they should not be entitled to the same amount as those who worked. Increase the dole for those that actually worked using a sliding scale of how long you worked for and decreasing the dole as the longer you are on the dole. This way, work is incentivised.

Severely reduce the dole for those who live with their parents by way of decreasing the limits for means testing so if a family member works, you would get feck all dole.
To counteract fraud/careerists...if those parents are on the dole/welfare, find a way of job placement to discourage career doleists.

Seth Brundle

gurramok wrote: »

Introduce property tax, preferably a fair one(whatever that may entail)

How would a property tax be calculated fairly except on the value of the property. However, if the value is falling...

bryaner

changes wrote: »

1. Transfer staff from overstaffed government depts to a new and ruthless social welfare fraud dept that comes under the overall control of the Gardai.

2. Tax rise on all alcohol sold in of licences and supermarkets.

3. Major cut in politicians income and expenses as an important gesture.

4. Cut child benefit completely for those earning more than 100K

5. Charge all Medical Card holders €5 per doctor visit

6. 1 cent on text messages

7. 3rd rate of tax on earnings in excess of 50K

8. Cut dole for all by 5%

9. Cut OAP by 5%

Number 2 would just drive people back across the border.

The rest look pretty good and I'm on the dole..

gurramok

kbannon wrote: »

How would a property tax be calculated fairly except on the value of the property. However, if the value is falling...

Maybe copy the Brits? Their house values have been up and down like a zig zag over the last few decades

Point is, we have to pay for local services and most European countries(and USA) do that by way of using a property tax.

dean21

Anybody on a pension should not be working
I am sick of teacher, nurses ect retiring getting there lump sum and then going back into the work force
You either get a pension or you work but not both

ardmacha

Lower tax on alcohol(spirits only) to make sure cross border shopping is a thing of the past as booze shopping is the incentive to go up north.

Scrap/reduce heavily VRT & motor tax and replace it with a fuel tax.

So stop people driving to Newry for booze and have them drive for petrol instead? That's logical!

gurramok

ardmacha wrote: »

So stop people driving to Newry for booze and have them drive for petrol instead? That's logical!

Hehe. Can you see hordes of Dubliners going up to Newry to fill up in an era of the fuel tax where prices are the same on other goods?

Wouldn't be worth their while at all

Count Dooku

Scrap employers PRSI for export oriented companies, which create real wealth
More people must work for export and less for reselling chinese goods

Jessibelle

gurramok wrote: »

Severely reduce the dole for those who live with their parents by way of decreasing the limits for means testing so if a family member works, you would get feck all dole.

You do realise that just because someone shares a house with family, it does not necessarily mean any working members of the family are able or willing to provide for an extra mouth?

supremenovice

Im not too clued in on how VAT works, but is it possible to increase the Vat on certain food items?
For example, if they lashed the VAT onto foodstuffs which are bad for your health ie. fast food, soft drinks, crisps etc and decrease the VAT or even subsidise nutritious food like fruit and veg and bread and cereals.
It wont solve the exchequer deficit tomorrow, but as the years pass and people get healthier it may decrease the health bill some what?

I think now more than ever is time to take a real look at ourselves and how we live as a society and think radically for a change. I think President Sarkozy even alluded to it a while back and I thought he had a point. Its not all about money after all.

beeno67

supremenovice wrote: »

Im not too clued in on how VAT works, but is it possible to increase the Vat on certain food items?
For example, if they lashed the VAT onto foodstuffs which are bad for your health ie. fast food, soft drinks, crisps etc and decrease the VAT or even subsidise nutritious food like fruit and veg and bread and cereals.
.

Very hard to say what is healthy and what is not. You mention cereals, well if you mean breakfast cereals then they would mostly go into the unhealthy section. Dark chocolate can benefit your heart so is it good or bad. Nuts very high in fat (50-60% fat) but most would consider good for you. Even bread, what is good. Wholemeal brown very good, sliced white not so good but not bad if you see what I mean.

gurramok

Jessibelle wrote: »

You do realise that just because someone shares a house with family, it does not necessarily mean any working members of the family are able or willing to provide for an extra mouth?

Means test it better. Obviously if the worker is on minimum wage, the idea is a no go.
Make it so that the amount needed for the extra mouth to feed is indeed sufficient from the worker and where the worker can afford it, no more.

Jessibelle

gurramok wrote: »

Make it so that the amount needed for the extra mouth to feed is indeed sufficient from the worker and where the worker can afford it, no more.

And if the worker is unwilling to support the other? You cannot force another person to support someone else against their will. Parents may be willing to house their children, but not willing to subsidise their food/clothing etc regardless of what level of income they're earning.

ardmacha

Can you see hordes of Dubliners going up to Newry to fill up

Fuel tax works like this. Presently you get tax from 105% of demand, as it is a little bit cheaper in the South, especially diesel. You abolish VRT and increase the tax so the tax goes up 40%, you now sell 75% of demand, and your taxt take is 75%*1.4 or 105. So you have no extra revenue, and somebody in Jonesborough ends up with Ireland's biggest filling station.

Property tax could be largely based on the size of the property, rather than estimating its value.

bryaner

ardmacha wrote: »

Fuel tax works like this. Presently you get tax from 105% of demand, as it is a little bit cheaper in the South, especially diesel. You abolish VRT and increase the tax so the tax goes up 40%, you now sell 75% of demand, and your taxt take is 75%*1.4 or 105. So you have no extra revenue, and somebody in Jonesborough ends up with Ireland's biggest filling station.

Property tax could be largely based on the size of the property, rather than estimating its value.

Property tax aint gona happen for at least 4 years +

changes

ardmacha wrote: »

Property tax could be largely based on the size of the property, rather than estimating its value.

That is the difficulty with a property tax, base it on house size suits the city people because they will have smaller houses, base it on house value suits the rural dwellers as their houses will be worth less.

gurramok

Jessibelle wrote: »

And if the worker is unwilling to support the other? You cannot force another person to support someone else against their will. Parents may be willing to house their children, but not willing to subsidise their food/clothing etc regardless of what level of income they're earning.

How is that societys problem?

If you have kids, look after them. When they reach 18, why should a parent have the strain to feed them?

They should get out and find a job, their adults now. Time to fly the nest and support yourself.

Speak Now

gurramok wrote: »

How is that societys problem?

If you have kids, look after them. When they reach 18, why should a parent have the strain to feed them?

They should get out and find a job, their adults now. Time to fly the nest and support yourself.

Lots of 18 year olds are still in full time education though.

Sea Sharp

cut minimum wage to 7.00 per hour or keep it as it is and start taxing these people so that they only get 7.00 per hour after tax.
Cut social welfare payments to 170 p/w or 100 p/w for people signing on for 3 years plus.


Then have a June 2011 budget where
minimum wage is cut or taxed so that people are coming out with 6.50 per hour.
Reduce social welfare payments further 80 euro p/w for people signed on for more than 3 years 145 p/w for everybody else.

the groutch

big increase in tax on booze & petrol, people won't go up north for the booze because it'll cost them too much on petrol

gurramok

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

Lots of 18 year olds are still in full time education though.

Lots move out into shared accommodation for said education. Again, its not societys problem if a parent refuse to feed an 18yrold man or woman who just happens to be their offspring.

groutch wrote:

big increase in tax on booze & petrol, people won't go up north for the booze because it'll cost them too much on petrol

Probably won't happen as the VFI/LVA have such a powerful lobby and the govt relies alot on booze revenue.

Plus, it will increases booze smuggling just like in Al Capone times

bryaner

Sea Sharp wrote: »

cut minimum wage to 7.00 per hour or keep it as it is and start taxing these people so that they only get 7.00 per hour after tax.
Cut social welfare payments to 170 p/w or 100 p/w for people signing on for 3 years plus.


Then have a June 2011 budget where
minimum wage is cut or taxed so that people are coming out with 6.50 per hour.
Reduce social welfare payments further 80 euro p/w for people signed on for more than 3 years 145 p/w for everybody else.

Thats it and while you have them down that low
kick their teeth out, nothing like keeping people
down..:rolleyes:

Sea Sharp

bryaner wrote: »

Thats it and while you have them down that low
kick their teeth out, nothing like keeping people
down..:rolleyes:

5 euro is being spent for every 3 euro being taken in. The government needs to make more drastic cuts than what I've described in my post to balance the books. If they don't do it the IMF will.

bryaner

Sea Sharp wrote: »

5 euro is being spent for every 3 euro being taken in. The government needs to make more drastic cuts than what I've described in my post to balance the books. If they don't do it the IMF will.

The IMF will start at the top.

Speak Now

gurramok wrote: »

Lots move out into shared accommodation for said education. Again, its not societys problem if a parent refuse to feed an 18yrold man or woman who just happens to be their offspring.

Actually i was thinking of leaving cert students due to so many schools making transition year compulsory.

Sea Sharp

bryaner wrote: »

The IMF will start at the top.

They started at the top in the last budgets. Public sector employees take home less than what they used to.
If we want to improve competitiveness we need to start at the bottom.
We should aim for a scenario where the money given and earned by the 'bottom' comes into line with the European average.

bryaner

Sea Sharp wrote: »

They started at the top in the last budgets. Public sector employees take home less than what they used to.
If we want to improve competitiveness we need to start at the bottom.
We should aim for a scenario where the money given and earned by the 'bottom' in line with the European average.

They hit the low paid public sector workers the hardest last time..

Shave 200k of BC and then were talking changes..

Sea Sharp

bryaner wrote: »

They hit the low paid public sector workers the hardest last time..

Shave 200k of BC and then were talking changes..

Well it'd be good for PR if the top politicians give themselves pay cuts while cutting everyone else's pay but in the grand scheme of things it won't really make a difference on the books.
We as a country are fecked, over the next few years we have to make nasty cuts that will effect everyone, not cuts that effect a portion of the population that doesn't include you.

feicim

Sea Sharp wrote: »

cut minimum wage to 7.00 per hour or keep it as it is and start taxing these people so that they only get 7.00 per hour after tax.

The thing is if we cut our minimum wage to stimulate companies investing in a labour intensive industries here, will poland / china / india etc just cut their wages by 20% to keep themselves ahead?

The UK has a lower minimum wage, has that helped their situation? No, because it is not the real problem.

The real problem is our "open economy" and loosely "regulated" financial system which combine to create a cocktail that is lethal to our economic fortune. When combined with an incompetent long term government these factors practically guaranteed to create highs and lows such as we have / and are experiencing.

These are the areas that need to be addressed, until they are we will be sinking slowly deeper into the mire for the foreseeable future.

But back on topic for budget 2010 ideas, we should sell the country as a going concern to the chinese.

bryaner

Sea Sharp wrote: »

Well it'd be good for PR if the top politicians give themselves pay cuts while cutting everyone else's pay but in the grand scheme of things it won't really make a difference on the books.
We as a country are fecked, over the next few years we have to make nasty cuts that will effect everyone, not cuts that effect a portion of the population that doesn't include you.

All you have mentioned is social welfare and minimum wage..

Spudmonkey

Jessibelle wrote: »

And if the worker is unwilling to support the other? You cannot force another person to support someone else against their will. Parents may be willing to house their children, but not willing to subsidise their food/clothing etc regardless of what level of income they're earning.

And if parents aren't willing to care for their children, why do you think a total stranger should be subsidizing their food/clothing??

OS119

Jessibelle wrote: »

And if the worker is unwilling to support the other? You cannot force another person to support someone else against their will. Parents may be willing to house their children, but not willing to subsidise their food/clothing etc regardless of what level of income they're earning.

if the 'child' is in the frame for getting Jobseekers (of whatever amount), then they aren't really a child anymore - they are an adult with the same responsibilities to feed, house and clothe themselves as every other adult has.

Jessibelle

OS119 wrote: »

if the 'child' is in the frame for getting Jobseekers (of whatever amount), then they aren't really a child anymore - they are an adult with the same responsibilities to feed, house and clothe themselves as every other adult has.

Exactly, therefore even if they're living in the parental home, they cannot be expected to be fully supported by any other workers in the home.
As to why strangers should be obliged to help when family won't? In an ideal world all familys would be big happy smiling units willing to help one another at the drop of a hat. This is not an ideal world.

ETA: In the original point, the OP wrote that anyone living with their parents should have dole reduced to practically nothing and the parents expected to support them. In the case of an 18/19 year old that may be one thing (I still wouldn't agree but fools differ etc), but what of the instance, more common now than before where someone in their 20's-30's plus, returns home? Are they to be expected to ask for pocket money again,and full financial support from any working parent/family member given they may have worked and contributed for the previous years?

Stabshauptmann

Denzil2222 wrote: »

This is what i think minister lenihan should do in budget 2011, abolish dole for under 21s, half dole from 21st till 25th birthday

A single person who finishes college at 25 would be on twice as much dole as a married person who didnt go to college and worked for 5 years after school.

Not everyone has the same lifestyle choices.

I agree in principle to means testing the dole.

cut state pension by 6 percent, abolish free tv licence and phone line rental for oaps and others, change medical card limits for over 70s to €450 per week for a single person and €900 for married couple

Why target the old for so much?!

€2 on sim cards

Actually a good idea. Perfectly inelastic tax.

analbeads

Stabshauptmann wrote: »

Why target the old for so much?!

pensions were not cut in the last budget while all other social welfare recivers were cut.
a pensioner recieves around €220 personal rate which someone on the dole is getting €196 personal.
i think its criminal to cut all social welfrae recivers while leaving pensioners without any cut for a second year!!

most pensioners have no morgage and hardly any outgoings, have a free tv licence, free phone line rental, living alone allowance so how dose this seem fair?

the country is crippled in debt and everyone needs to suffer as equaly as possible.

i am a single mother that gets €225 a week (€196 personal rate and €29.80 per dependant child) which is the same as a person on the dole and i do think it should be lowered slightly maybe €5-€8 a week.

but i do have a problem with people that say cut child benefit to €50-€100 a month. in the last budget it was cut by €16 a month and the year before that the early childcare supp was abolished which was €84 a week so i dont think child benefit should be reduced by more than €10 a month

this benefit is to give children a better life. children that grow up in poverty and in a disadvantaged area uaually (not always) go on to claim the dole with no education or job skills. we need to give children the best start that we can and to encourage their passion and talents eg. educational classes,art ,sport. they are the future leaders of the country and there are the future tax payers that will be paying the debts that we are encuring right now in this recession

changes

Whatever happens in the next budget working people should not be hit hard. OAP's got off lightly last time and can afford to give something in this next budget.

The social welfare system is a mess and hands out money wily nily. It accounted for 22 billion last year... a truely astronomical figure.
Long term dolers should be cut severely, welfare frausters punished and nobody should be allowed to spend their life on the dole.

Also, mothers on OPFP should get significantly less money for their 3rd 4th, 5th 6th etc child. The only people i know these days having 4 or more children are the very well off or those that let the taxpayer pay for their childrens upbringing.