Sensible Budget Suggestions

Ronin247 · 05-12-2010 08:08PM #1

Ok its AH and I should know better,however I want to know does anyone have any positive ideas for the budget other than the usual "get rid of half the government" etc. No big debates just some positivity for a while.

One that I think could be looked at is the bonus child benefit for twins. Why give 1.5 times the childrens allowance for twins up to the age of 18.Once they are out of nappies(or 2 years old whichever is first) then normal rates apply.

"Single" mothers with a second child from "another" unknown dad.DNA test the kids,if they are full siblings no allowances till daddy is named and paying maintainance.

Frivlous lawsuits.If you lose you pay.F*ckers will chance suing for anything because its free.Costs a fortune in court cases and occasionally some prick wins a lob of money they clearly don't deserve.Burglars suing homeowners etc.

Anyone with 3 convictions of theft get no dole or family allowance because it is obvious how they are supporting the family.

Some of my ideas may be a bit daft but at least they are ideas instead of complaining that nobody else is doing something.

syngindub · 05-12-2010 08:09PM

walk to the curry shop

Mr. Manager · 05-12-2010 08:13PM

syngindub wrote: »

walk to the curry shop

I don't see how that would solve our €80 billion problem

ejmaztec · 05-12-2010 08:26PM

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

I don't see how that would solve our €80 billion problem

It will start runs on the banks, and pretty much everywhere else as well.

Mint Sauce · 05-12-2010 08:32PM

Child benefit to be means tested, there is no way someone on 200k a year should be getting the exact same as someone on under 20k a year.

bonerm · 05-12-2010 08:34PM

Abortions for some, one way plane tickets for others.

Son Of A Vidic · 05-12-2010 08:34PM

Here's a start on money saving....

Reduce politicians numbers straight away.

1 TD to be elected per County.

Cities with a population over 250,000 will have 4 TD's, one each for North, South, East and West constituencies.

Political dynasties (family based) to be banned. Election and nomination on merit only.

The above rules will also apply to Seanad Eireann members.

Ministerial cars abolished.

Political pensions reduced by 60%.

Civil Servants on 100K+ per year, will have a 40% pay cut.

Government jet to be sold immediately.

Political expenses to be independently monitored with allowances greatly reduced.

Future state capital projects to have strict financial and time controls built in.

Sauve · 05-12-2010 08:35PM

Here's my tuppence:

Means test the Childrens Allowance.

Charge people who have medical cards a few quid (Maybe 5-10 euro) to see their GP.

Cut out all the freebies that go with certain Government jobs. (Cars + drivers for a start). Their decent salaries should afford them the ability to buy and drive their own car like the rest of us.

Put together a body of frontline healthcare workers to sort out the massive overspending there. They know what's going on and usually have some decent ideas. The same could be said for all departments really.

Radical overhaul of taxes. Everybody should pay equal taxes, relative to their income. Higher paid jobs don't necessarily mean you work harder than somebody on minimum wage. A lot do, but not all.

Oisinjm · 05-12-2010 08:35PM

irish-stew wrote: »

Child benefit to be means tested, there is no way someone on 200k a year should be getting the exact same as someone on under 20k a year.

I've heard that for your third child you also get more child benefit? If this is the case, this should most definitely be changed. The third child would surely be cheaper to raise ("hand me downs", more experience etc.). If anything you should receive less benefit the more children you have.

Oranage2 · 05-12-2010 08:37PM

Give everybody cheese!

Also we should reduce the food budget in the current Dail!

Mister men · 05-12-2010 08:40PM

The immediate public hanging of Brian Cowen, Brian Lenihan, Mary Harney and Bertie Ahern. Followed by the beheading of the top bankers and developers who made millions on other people's misery. We then may see the people who are going to take it right in the arse in Tuesday's and forthcoming budgets "move on" and "put their shoulder to the wheel".

syngindub · 05-12-2010 08:40PM

Oranage2 wrote: »

Give everybody cheese!

too right man. when are we getting our bleedin cheese !!

Mr. Manager · 05-12-2010 08:40PM

Oranage2 wrote: »

Give everybody cheese!

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

I don't see how that would solve our €80 billion problem

.

Oranage2 · 05-12-2010 08:45PM

I suggest we introduce a water tax say a euro for every litre you use. BANG we use 80 billion litres of water and we're debt free baby!!!

Ronin247 · 05-12-2010 08:47PM

Sauvignon82 wrote: »

Here's my tuppence:...............

Charge people who have medical cards a few quid (Maybe 5-10 euro) to see their GP. ...........

Seen that in US where a co-pay system of $5 per visit was introduced and the number of visits dropped by something like 30% in the first year.

Co-pay for prescriptions also(is this already enacted or on the way?)

syngindub · 05-12-2010 08:47PM

Oranage2 wrote: »

I suggest we introduce a water tax say a euro for every litre you use. BANG we use 80 billion litres of water and we're debt free baby!!!

just throw some snow in the kettle

sollar · 05-12-2010 09:00PM

Charge people who use legal aid a fee if found guilty. i.e take 10 or 20 euro of their dole for a few years.

I'd say you'd see less scum with 60 or 70 convictions at that rate.

AnneElizabeth · 05-12-2010 09:29PM

Get competent managers in the County Councils and competent judges (with reduced page cuts)!
My mother works in the finance dept of one CC and people constantly pretend to fall over things and get thousands in compensation. They can do it as many times as they like too. It should be legal to say in court that this person has claimed 10 times before. Also where she works money is wasted needlessly by stupid managers.
Also, all county councils should have their own solicitors and barristers on a set wage.

..there's my two cents :P

Chuchoter · 05-12-2010 09:32PM

No single mothers benefit for each additional child after first baby born/conceived after the budget (ie does not act retroactively). Free or very cheap birth control/abortions.

No more TG4
No more mandatory Irish
No more Official Language Act 2003

Total reform of education system at second level. Pay based on merits/extracurricular work and not on seniority. Some of the worst teachers in my school are on 70k and they only have that because they've been there for years. Make it easier to fire people. Publish league tables.

Close down schools with small numbers. Make bigger schools where we can pool resources, as opposed to loads of tiny schools with crap resources. This would also benefit minority students enormously (teen mothers, LGBT students, etc etc) as it makes support groups within schools possible as in America.

Larger role in running health service given to frontline workers.

Reform entire political system. Reduce number of TDs to 1 per small counties and 2 or 3 for larger ones. TDs no longer deal with minor local issues, no pothole/parochial politics. No more seanad.

Cut minor ITs.

Bring back in western rail corridor.

cml387 · 05-12-2010 09:37PM

A sensible AH thread eh?

Slash number of junior ministries and minsters (Mercs for the boys).
Tax 0.5c for text messages.
Renove ability of TD's to lobby for constituents and upgrade Citizen's advice bureaux to fulfill same job fre of political interference.
Introduce charge of "financial treason" and make it retrospective.

Run_to_da_hills · 05-12-2010 09:47PM

medicman2009 wrote: »

Government jet to be sold immediately.

To be replaced with Ryanair travel vouchers.

bnt · 05-12-2010 09:52PM

Cereal Rapist wrote: »

I don't see how that would solve our €80 billion problem

Let's have a look at the actual 2010 budget, shall we? Start with the last document on this page, "2010 Estimates for Public Services and Summary Public Capital Programme (PDF)".

The budget was for €54.9 billion of current spending (money keeping the country going) plus €6.4 billion of capital expenditure (money spent on things), a total of €61.3 billion. There's a breakdown by in the table on page 12, and the main suspects are there: €14.5B on Health, €13B on "Social and Family Affairs", €8.9B on "Education and Science". Anyone who goes near those is asking for trouble: "think of the Children!"

All the details are in there - such as €324 million on salaries at the Revenue Commissioners - down from €339 million the year before. (Just How many people do they have there?) Still, that's a lot less than Garda salaries, which are just over €1 billion - and they pay another 1/3 billion in "superannuation" pensions. Prisons is another big salary bill (€274 million).

The picture is repeated all the way down: salaries dwarf all other expenses by a huge margin. I though that the talk of high public sector pay was exaggerated, but the Government's own numbers tell a scary story. Has the IMF seen these figures? Yes, they have ...

tommyhaas · 05-12-2010 10:02PM

Always thought students should have to pay back the cost of their education through a higher tax rate after they graduate. It could be paid back as a percentage of their income over a few years.

partyatmygaff · 05-12-2010 10:10PM

tommyhaas wrote: »

Always thought students should have to pay back the cost of their education through a higher tax rate after they graduate. It could be paid back as a percentage of their income over a few years.

I take it you've already graduated? Why should the students of the future (Who played no part whatsoever in this recession) be punished for what the previous generation did? Giving people an incentive to abandon education isn't the right thing to do.

Oranage2 · 05-12-2010 10:20PM

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I take it you've already graduated? Why should the students of the future (Who played no part whatsoever in this recession) be punished for what the previous generation did? Giving people an incentive to abandon education isn't the right thing to do.

It would give students incentives to work hard in college and not use college as an option for p!ssing 4 years away

MagicMarker · 05-12-2010 10:25PM

Oranage2 wrote: »

It would give students incentives to work hard in college and not use college as an option for p!ssing 4 years away

You really think an 18 year old in 1st year is gonna say ''oh, I better get studying, after all I will be paying a higher tax rate in 4 years!''?

AnneElizabeth · 05-12-2010 10:25PM

Oranage2 wrote: »

It would give students incentives to work hard in college and not use college as an option for p!ssing 4 years away

I doubt it would. Their parents would end up paying the extra fees for them or helping at the least

Mark200 · 05-12-2010 10:26PM

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I take it you've already graduated? Why should the students of the future (Who played no part whatsoever in this recession) be punished for what the previous generation did? Giving people an incentive to abandon education isn't the right thing to do.

I haven't graduated, and I have a brother who has yet to enter third-level education, and I completely agree with a graduate tax. It has nothing to do with punishment. An education may help the state (depending on what the education is in...) but it helps the person too. There's no reason that they should not pay back the cost of their third-level education when earning enough to do so, when it more than likely is the reason why they are earning a high wage in the first place.

tommyhaas · 05-12-2010 10:35PM

partyatmygaff wrote: »

I take it you've already graduated? Why should the students of the future (Who played no part whatsoever in this recession) be punished for what the previous generation did? Giving people an incentive to abandon education isn't the right thing to do.

Why should anyone who played no part whatsoever in this mess have to pay? But we do. Whats the alternative?

Its not about penalising students, its about making them pay for an education they recieved. Also, this wouldnt prevent people going to college who at the time of starting cannot afford the fees

What about people who dont go to college,people that go straight from school to work. Is it fair that their taxes contribute to educating students so that those students can then get better paying jobs when they graduate?

Yes Iv graduated already, but wouldnt have a problem with a scheme like this

partyatmygaff · 05-12-2010 10:38PM

Mark200 wrote: »

I haven't graduated, and I have a brother who has yet to enter third-level education, and I completely agree with a graduate tax. It has nothing to do with punishment.

But it is a deterrent.

There's no reason that they should not pay back the cost of their third-level education when earning enough to do so, when it more than likely is the reason why they are earning a high wage in the first place.

But haven't their parents been paying tax the past 17/18 years to ensure a free education for their children?

Chuchoter · 05-12-2010 10:38PM

I would much prefer they went after bad senior teachers on 70k or our 130k librarians than going after students.

Sensible Budget Suggestions

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