A nation of obedient ****-takers ~ Christy Moore

Chucky the tree wrote: »

But they don't.

Nonoperational wrote: »

Jesus. How, might I ask, did you come to that conclusion?

HE true scale of the tax burden on low- and middle-income earners as a result of the austerity drive is revealed in staggering new figures published today.

Estimates released by the Department of Finance showed that those who earn the least have been worst hit by tax hikes while the country's top earners contributed marginally less. The figures provide a detailed snapshot of how the increased tax burden caused by the economic crisis has weighed more on the less-well-off than the richest.

They showed that the "coping classes" earning anything from €17,543 to €50,000 are bearing the brunt of austerity. The biggest burden has fallen on those earning €17,542 to €20,000, who have collectively paid three times more tax in 2011 than they did in 2010 -- or a shocking 215 per cent increase.

Those earning €20,001 to €30,000 are paying 36 per cent more tax than they did in 2010 and those earning between €40,001 and €50,000 are paying 23 per cent more. The huge tax burden was attributed to the introduction of the Universal Social Charge and on a reduction in tax credits in the Government's bid to raise more than €1bn in extra income tax in 2011. However, leadings tax consultants said yesterday the figures showed how the tax hikes have had a "disproportionate effect" on the lower paid while leaving the country's highest earners largely unscathed. For example, the 118 people in the country who earn more than €2m paid 0.3 per cent less in tax in 2011 than they did in 2010; the 1,148 who earned between €400,001 and €450,000 paid just 1.1 per cent more in tax.

The tax drop for Ireland's top earners is no doubt linked to the fact that they earned less last year: their taxable income fell by €9.2m in 2011. However, the figures clearly showed that the hard-pressed lower and IPmiddle income workers also earned significantly less last year but contributed proportionally more in taxes. Those earning €40,001 to €50,000 a year were typical: more than 207,900 of them paid €866m in tax in 2010; last year, there were 3,000 fewer people in that salary range yet their collective tax contribution soared to €1.058bn.

High earners on €100,000 to €125,000 paid €61m more in taxes although their ranks were depleted by 629 in 2011. The Finance Minister admitted in the Dail last month that under half of Irish millionaires paid less than 30 per cent income tax in 2009.

lukesmom wrote: »

I wonder was he out on the streets protesting with the rest of them??? I doubt it! He's full of ****. It's easy for him to sit there and complain about the rest of us mere mortals while he rakes in millions. Think he's extremely talented and I like his music but on a personal level he's gone way down in my estimation.

joydivision wrote: »

keep their spirits up / advertise for free to huge crowds/ be the voice of the movement/ sell albums .

Herb Powell wrote: »

I have honestly never seen a more completely fuccking cynical shower than on this website.

If you're famous your opinions are invalid, are they? "Oh sure he has an agenda"-EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR OWN OPINIONS WILL BE BASED ON AN AGENDA OF SOME KIND, FFS.

Madam_X wrote: »

Wicklowrider: If he's just going to blanket condemn Irish people as a nation (of which he's part) asking him what alternatives he'd suggest seems reasonable to me. After all, he's condemning others for not coming up with alternatives.

Every time this discussion comes up, you get idiots saying "Useless bunch sitting on their holes" from their computer, also doing nothing and sitting on their holes. I fail to see how Moore is any different.

The prevailing mantra isn't "Ah shur it'll be grand" - as some like to say all the time; it's "Can't someone else do it?"