Over the course of your life, you feel like you get value for the tax you pay?

iamstop

From when you start earning money and paying for things yourself (VAT) and getting deductions from your wages (PRSI & PAYE) and all the other taxes (motor, household etc).
Do you think if you add up all the benefits you get like school, roads, hospital, dole if you've ever been on it, street lights, museums etc that you get a fair deal?

K3lso

iamstop wrote: »

From when you start earning money and paying for things yourself (VAT) and getting deductions from your wages (PRSI & PAYE) and all the other taxes (motor, household etc).
Do you think if you add up all the benefits you get like school, roads, hospital, dole if you've ever been on it, street lights, museums etc that you get a fair deal?

The tax you pay in Ireland goes to bankers, bondholders and politicians on crazy money other countries can only dream of. You're going to be paying more tax now than before and with that they're closing countless Garda stations.

It's a joke of a country fueled by ignorance and an unwillingness to "rock the boat". The Establishment in this country likes the status quo. They need the status quo because it suits them and their goals of personal wealth. No one else comes into the equation. Do you really think your TD gives a damn about you or your family? They couldn't give a damn if you died in the streets. You place far too much confidence in your politicians.....look after yourself first and foremost.

Fascism is alive and well in this country.

Truncheon Rouge

Well yeah, in fact I think I've come out pretty well so far. I have a goal to balance the books within my lifetime. For pride I suppose, although I know not everyone is blessed with attributes to do that.
I was owed nothing from day 1 but Ireland fronted me the cash, on the merit that I was born here...rather than some other places where I'd have to fight with an ak47 to get to a well for some muddy water.

shedweller

I voted no. And whenever (not very often, i might add) i come home from abroad, it is even more so.
Sure, it's not like some third world countries who, given their mineral wealth(for example), should be living like kings. But given the amount of money we give away every year to these bumbling fools for leaders, we should have much better living standards, education, infrastructure.

For feck sake, in the UK, a gas customer can get their house insulated for free by the gas company because it is cheaper for said company to pay for insulation than pay the carbon tax on the extra gas used!

And what do we get for PRSI?

During the boom times we sub contracted motorway building to private companies who then got very good deals on tolling said motorways. I recall us having to pay them the balance when traffic levels dropped and therefore toll revenue dropped. You couldn't make this up!

Portacabin schools that were rented from relations of TD's etc. Lovely!
****ty play areas in schools so kids can't let off steam between classes and therefore do worse in class because they can't sit still.
Other countries do this and more. It aint rocket science folks!
Didn't a minister for health go to NZ to check out their excellent healthcare system? Only to come home and do nothing (or not let) with the knowledge gained!

A bunch of muppets is what we are.

Cookie_Monster

I don't think paying tax so we can donate it to the Ugandan War Plane fund is particularly good value, and when you continue to work your way down the list of how Ireland Inc spends money the reading doesn't get too much better.

josealdo

i'm working since i was 16 and paying taxes all that time , i'm grateful i'm in work but when i was 17 i started an apprenticeship with FAS , they paid for my first years training so i guess the last 20 years have been payback really

mikemac1

All through the late 90's they were shutting down garda stations. It's nothing recent, nothing to do with any recession

Those were kept open for decades and in tough times but it seems the money wasn't there during boom times

And now even more get closed next year

A garda station 22km away and those guys have to cover half the county!

Millions in legal aid for Johnny 40 convictions to keep the legal profession busy but no money for putting a garda with local knowledge in an area.

And we wonder why the elderly are getting beaten up and having life savings taken in rural areas

I remember Enda promising 2,000 new gardai before the election in 2007!
Instead we have 2,000 people working in Human Resources in the HSE :rolleyes:

josealdo

But how much of taxes go on Gardas , single mums , old age pensions , has anyone a breakdown of these % wise ?

galwayrush

As for my 'entitlements' as a self employed person, absolutey not.

jank

Boston or Berlin?

The value of money you get in Ireland for tax is terrible, considering the amount of Public Sector workers on the pay roll and all the stupid Qangos.

Frank Black

We probably don't get as good a value as we should from our tax-euros. There is a lack of accountability and transparency on how a lot of the money is spent within the public service.
I work for a company which provides consultancy services for public sector clients in delivering large infrastructure projects. The majority of people I deal with on the public sector side are hard working and conscientious. However the system as a whole can be very wasteful - sometime shockingly so.
Given that I'm exposed to only a tiny amount of the money that our public sector spends, I dread to think what the overall wastage is across the entire system.
I'm a net contributor in terms of tax vs benifits, but I want to live in a society that provides social protection for those less fortuante than myself. Access to such areas as health and education should not be the preserve of those that can afford it.
But as tax-payers we should demand more value for the money we contribute.

smash

The extremely poor management of public service departments over the last few decades has left the country in a mess. The sad part is that it'll be another few decades before they're sorted out now.

CruelCoin

If you're on low income and live in a city you get a massively disproportionate amount of tax spent on you, compared to if you are self-employed living in the country.

As the latter, i get a really crappy deal.

RoyalMarine

I can only comment on my own personal situation,

I feel that so far I have gotten a fair deal.

When I finished school, I began working and obviously paying taxes. Fast forward a few years, and I became un-employed for 9 months. I was entitled to claim during this time.

Then I went to college and for 3 years I was funded. (granted the coco refused to help me after first year when I changed from a 4 year course to a 3 year course (same level of qualification, same degree), they said sorry, we can't help you anymore.....) but the BTEA stepped in and were more than helpful in funding me through college.

so IMO I feel that yes, I paid taxes, and when I needed support I got it. And for that reason I will continue to pay taxes (I'm now working full time) and I am very happy to do so based on MY situation.

.jacksparrow.

Isn't 60 percent of money spent by the government spent on social welfare?

josealdo

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Isn't 60 percent of money spent by the government spent on social welfare?

holy moly , i know its around 21 billion , 1-2 billion of that is fraudulent

Markcheese

School , college, welfare if necessary , maternity benefit, children's allowance.old age pension , health care ( not uk national health but not USA either ) ...
Yeah there is a staggering amount of waste in the system ... And the whole over paid under-responsible senior civil servants ..(and bankers now) but most people in Ireland are net consumers not contributors...



Be like the Greeks get out and burn all public property... That'll show us ??

shruikan2553

Im a student getting the grant with the medical card so I would say Im getting a good deal. Without it I probably wouldn't be in college and spending loads on doctor visits and medication for my allergies.

Being from Donegal means this is the most you can get. After college Ill be losing these and will probably have to move in order to get value.

iamstop

I'm sort of on the fence with this one. I mean I got the college education and got kept healthy etc but since I've not been able to get a job I've not been able to pay back very much taxes. Just VAT mostly I suppose.
So anyway, I'm heading to Canada.

keith16

If you look at the money the HSE is gobbling up then there is absolutely no value for money. Think the stat is something like €70 per person per month spent on health in the country.

Thankfully, I am generally healthy and wouldn't spend €70 in a year on myself for health matters.

But there is no doubt that there are epic inefficiencies in the public services provided by this country. It's actually shocking.

AckwelFoley

We pay takes to live in a civilised society.

Try living in most of Africa... or parts of Asia or south America. We take our way of life for granted.But it comes at a cost... taxes.

Wompa1

I said kind of getting good value. I received the grant 1 year out of my 4 but even so my fees were subsidized. I started working when I was 12. Everything I bought or paid for was taxed. When I was old enough to go on the books and was valid for taxation I paid a lot. A whole lot when I was in my "professional" line of work. Much more than my education would have cost without the current subsidies. But I also got peace of mind that if I lost my job I would get a generous Job Seekers allowance to help me get back on my feet.

When I left the country I gave some money to Irish charities, didn't claim my tax back and left feeling as though I had contributed and been positive for the country. Probably paid more than I took.

Tzar Chasm

when I first started paying taxes I was genreally happy with the overall package, granted there were inefficiencies and waste but overall I felt that the system was at least the best we could manage as a nation, however since the bailout and this disasterous austerity policy I no longer feel that I am getting value for money.

ringadingding

I'm sorry for keep harping on about Austria, but the tax system here is flawless.

I pay the same percentage and amount PAYE here as I would have in Ireland, for that We get the safest city in Europe.
Free childcare/ kindergarten from 18 months old ( mothers get 1000 a month to stay at home for the first 18 months), free education inc. college and university if grades ok, clean streets, 24 hour drinking laws, free 1st class healthcare inc. dental, essentially a free transport system ( 1 euro a day for underground, trams, buses everything unlimited, and this runs like clockwork)
There are parks and kids activities EVERYWHERE, all superbly maintained.

There is no car tax, but you pay to use the motorways - A paltry 80 euro for 14 months.

I used to pay 400 per week in tax and prsi, and honestly felt like I got nothing in return.

I know Austria is kinda the exception to the rule, but it really really bugs me that all of the funding Ireland got in the boom times was sqauandered, it's a beautiful country with really good people, but the infrastructure is an absolute sham.

Now that I feel like i'm getting my fair dues for my taxes, I pay them, I dont try to fiddle them, I earn, I pay. So does everybody that I know in every business that they own.

bnt

Ask me on my last day alive: I won't really know until then. My last days / weeks / months might be pretty hard on the health service budget ...

shedweller

ringadingding wrote: »

I'm sorry for keep harping on about Austria, but the tax system here is flawless.

I pay the same percentage and amount PAYE here as I would have in Ireland, for that We get the safest city in Europe.
Free childcare/ kindergarten from 18 months old ( mothers get 1000 a month to stay at home for the first 18 months), free education inc. college and university if grades ok, clean streets, 24 hour drinking laws, free 1st class healthcare inc. dental, essentially a free transport system ( 1 euro a day for underground, trams, buses everything unlimited, and this runs like clockwork)
There are parks and kids activities EVERYWHERE, all superbly maintained.

There is no car tax, but you pay to use the motorways - A paltry 80 euro for 14 months.

I used to pay 400 per week in tax and prsi, and honestly felt like I got nothing in return.

I know Austria is kinda the exception to the rule, but it really really bugs me that all of the funding Ireland got in the boom times was sqauandered, it's a beautiful country with really good people, but the infrastructure is an absolute sham.

Now that I feel like i'm getting my fair dues for my taxes, I pay them, I dont try to fiddle them, I earn, I pay. So does everybody that I know in every business that they own.

I've heard good things about Austria. I've witnessed good things in Sweden. So what is it about us Irish? Why oh why do we put up with such shoddy (i'm holding back here!) leadership. For want of a better word. Because all i can see is a bunch of lads out for themselves.
I really want to do something about our crappy leaders. They need to cop on and lead this country. Perpetual votes for politicians with balls. Politicians take heed.

Sparklygirl

keith16 wrote: »

If you look at the money the HSE is gobbling up then there is absolutely no value for money. Think the stat is something like €70 per person per month spent on health in the country.

Thankfully, I am generally healthy and wouldn't spend €70 in a year on myself for health matters.

But there is no doubt that there are epic inefficiencies in the public services provided by this country. It's actually shocking.

I think the HSE gives us excellent value for money. You have not used it by the sounds of things. €70 per person per month is very little. You think it is a lot as you have not used it. My son and husband were seriously ill this year and there is no doubt that the HSE spent tens of thousands of euros on them to save their lives. We could not have had a better service from the staff, they were hard working, well educated, caring and efficient. We were fortunate in both cases to have consultants who immediately made the right calls with regards to diagnosis. If that had not been the case, both my husband and baby would not be here today.I would have to say though that Crumlin Hospital certainly needs a rebuild so support that cause if you can. I would also say that while the government will look after you in terms of benefits if required, we certainly could not have survived without spending twenty grand of our savings to live on top of €370 a week from benefits.

Furthermore, people give out about the Public Service being over paid but it has been my experience to live in both Ireland and the UK and I will tell you that you get a far better service in the HSE in Ireland. Why? Well because the staff are happier to be at work, they feel rewarded and they get time off to go on study courses to keep up to date. The HSE may be a pain in the neck to wait for, but once you get it, it is an excellent service.

Stained Class

bnt wrote: »

Ask me on my last day alive: I won't really know until then. My last days / weeks / months might be pretty hard on the health service budget ...

Same here.

I'm one of those who seems to be paying thru the nose for everything.

It's okay now. I'm working & able for it.

Hopefully, if/when I get older, I'll get something back.

I don't mind paying for Teachers, Nurses, Guards etc..

It's the likes of paying for people creaming the whole system that grinds my gears.

I try not to think of them, most of the time..