Tax does it seem fair?

Its whats called a progressive tax system – the problem is in Ireland its taken to the extreme where a huge chunk aren’t expected to contribute at all and get all the benefits that drive up the need to get even more tax from those earning more.

In theory I agree with it to an extent – someone on €30k a year has the same living expenses (food, housing, transport etc) as someone on say €60k so the higher earner has more room to contribute a bit more. However in Ireland it is taken to the extreme – the person on 30k is expected to contribute very little, they then hammer the lad on €60k, give houses and medical cards etc to the lad on 30k and then ask the 60k earner to contribute more again. When they eventually ask the 30k earner to contribute a bit more they revolt and vote for other parties because the ruling party “gives them nothing”.

The 2008/9 only hit those on higher incomes. They quietly took it on the chin and got on with it. Their houses halved in value but they were left with the massive mortgages but still they soldiered on silently realising it had to be done. Then we got to the point where the masses were asked to contribute via property taxes and water charges and hey presto – marches, protests, independent TDs who can’t dress or talk yet alone draft economic plans or laws.

A Parable that explains it all perfectly:

The wealthy pay most of the taxes, so it should be no surprised that they get a larger percentage of the tax cut total back! It is only fair.
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Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good customers, he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men – the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
‘I only got a dollar out of the $20,’declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,’ but he got $10!’
‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’
‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’
‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill

I think tax is fine in this country but I'd like to see lower earners brought into the tax brackets. Everyone even those on welfare should pay tax.

The tax brackets limits should also be tied to inflation.

Ray Palmer wrote: »

People are always going on about tax and how the rich( whatever that is) should pay more tax. See the table below. To me it seems like there is a pretty big disincentive to getting your income up after a certain point due to tax. I certainly wouldn't work overtime knowing I will get less than half of it.

To me a lot of people are unaware how much tax people on higher salaries are on. If you look at the last record you can see if you earn 100k more than somebody on 35k you are earning 285% more but you are actually only 68% better off after tax. I really don't think people are aware of this.

The more you earn the less tax you pay - you think people on big wads actually pay the full tax amount?

Karl Stein wrote: »

It's quite simple really. The wealthier you are (not you personally) the more the economy serves you

Repeating what you said is not explaining what you said. In what way does the economy serve a wealthy person better? (And I think we are talking about a higher income earner rather than a wealthier person as we have no wealth taxes other than the pension levy).

What is the definition people have in their heads for "wealthy" or "high income" earners?