Texts & Emails Tuesday 3rd November, 2009

it should be exposed that public servants earning in excess of 70k generally have travelling allowances (tax free) of on average 8k per annum which are not included in any figures which are published, this figure can in a lot of instances rise to 28k
mick.cork

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Is your information regading effective tax rates not out of date as it refers to 2003 before property reliefs etc were abolished?  http://www.finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=5019    Liam Booth

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Some aspects that are distorting the state of the economy is that a vast percentage of the tax is from  the public sector bracket, the distortion in this is that its productive enterprises that fund the public sector pay which includes their tax. Ie the bigger the public service the bigger the tax take appears.

Also apart from the nama debt, there is a substantial lease accrual ongoing with contracts entered in to when rents were at a premium,

The people who are invested with advising the state are similar agents such as davies , given that this company seeming advised the on the sale of the bottle factory, incidentally a state owned property, to which within a 5 year period has incurred a 480 million debt with the possibility of a 140 million liability, and a 2 million a year maintenance  contract.

If we tolerate this then our children will be next

Midlands

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I think you are correct to ask questions you are asking the experts. Why is nobody talking or addressing the extremely high earners and their tax rates?

I think the labour party have a very good idea of introducing a third tax rate band for extremely high earners.

Also how do the extremely rich continue to sleep at night and advocate that the extremely poor and middle income families should take the brunt of the wreckless behaviour of the super rich and privileged?

Can you ask your experts how they justify taking away social welfare payments and peoples homes when the banks have received soo much money ploughed into ttheir insututions and supposedly still do not lend to anyone.

Orla Buffini.

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The present govt. such as it is, has a great opportunity to address the huge inequalities in our country. We have a minimum wage, now lets decide on a maximum wage/pension.One wage/pension for all and a max of 100K?

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You are talking about reducing wages but not mentioning the key expenses that are too high. ESB, Gas, Mortgages, Doctors/Hospitals, etc..... If these fell people could accept wage reductions and thus improve our competitiveness.

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How does a social welfare recipient on the minimum payment of 12,000 euros per year,
stand a chance of survival if they plan to cut that figure. Its heading for a stage at where
the less well off in society , have no more to lose, if they rise up against the government
that propose these measures.

Tim
Mullingar

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Things were not that bad in 2003/2004. We need to ajust public expenditure back to that time. Anyone earning under 30K could be protected. The average is now 50k and this could be reduced to 40k.

I think vincent that you are seriously out of touch with reality if you think 40k is a low salary, I support a family of 5 on 35K and by international standards this is an excellent salary. All comentators on your program are so well paid they cannot acknowledge that anyone over 22K is earning more than the EU 15 average.

Sam Bowden

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The lisbon vote was a test of the peoples will, they capitulated, and NOW the Merc's, 4by4's, the Special Purpose Vehicles after squandering the boom, are BACK IN BUSINESS, WITH 54BILLION (at least) to play with? We are being ruled by a greedy corrupt GUBU (using bare faced misinformation and business speak 2 knnwingly mislead) who use d word "systemic" to strike fear n2 d little cartel that 'their" gravy train is under threat. Boom/bust winners

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let it b 8-10-12 fact is there r over 400,000 sighing on that is serious. Connie foley macroom.

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for d love and honour of god is it really prudent 2 have economists stock brokers bankers politicians on ur show force feeding d public with horshite these guys havnt a clue

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why has dept. of finance got every forecast so wrong.Gerry

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What is "THE GEARY INSTITUTE?! Viv

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when a couxtry buids enough residental and industrial buldings to do for the next hundered years what else can we expect but recession.and there is still no sign of any new thinking on other means to get the economy moving.noel gorman

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Why not cut public sector pay by 1 per cent for every 10 000 earned, that would mean the pain would be shared out among the work force and lower paid workers wont be cut too much for example a worker on 30 000 would only be cut by 3000 where as a worker on 300 000 will be cut 30000. Brian dublin

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its not about wages Vincent, there's too many if them, the average basic salaries are irrelevant, its about the waste and over staffing, Gareth

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school principal 32 years service on 52 k per yr. Whats left 2 cut ?Brid D7.

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the figure of people getting disability benefit up to almost one hundred thousand up from sixty thousand in five years. Hidden unemployment.

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Small Hours worked, lots of holidays & benefits in public sector is way better than private sector. So cut their holidays, monday sick days & get them to work a full week!

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There was no word about the difference between public and private pay when the private sector were making their millions

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social welfare should be half most civil servants earn less than thirty thousand where as lots of dole going to foreign immigrants here keith dublin

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what are the guards nurses teachers prison officers etc getting when you add in overtime pat in cork

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We wont have a manufactureing job left in this country. China is going to be the new western world. As for nama its going to bankrupt us. Mike galway

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the 1st thing that should be cut is children's allowence for children who have never set foot in this country.24 mill euro this year alone.Mary hanivan says they may receive it until their 18 . John the taxpayer..

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are mister cowen and co going to lead by example nd take a pay cut and explain john odonaghues expenses..

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Please ask ur panel what they'd thlnk of a register of peoples' income and tax paid for openess,fairness and transparency.Phil Smith Cork

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you have to remember the cost of of living is well down on last year and interest rates are down. 30 grand this year is a lot more than last year

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what is it costing to fund retired teachers to come back and teach part time when they are getting a full pension and keeping newly qualified teachers out of work

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none of your guests appear to earn under €100,000 did You notice that, Carmel in sligo

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my daughter has an honours degree and at age tweenty five is on thirty thousand and on her fourth year with a national financial service company she gets told you are worth much more but we are not allowed pay increases she is at breaking point

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sorry but you dont expose anything and you are not hard hitting enough with your guests thank GOD for Prime Time I dare you to broadcast this Tony Mulvany

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how was the 70,000 euro bonus justified for prof. Drumm in this present climate for just doing his job ,helen tipperary .

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I work in d sewers 4 dublin city council and i earn less dan 33k and Dats including overtime. I seen nothin of d celtic tiger nevermind nama Shit. Mick dub.

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while many in the private sector hav lost jobs or taken pay cuts, the majority hav not so why shouldnt well paid middle management in eg the ESB, CRH,FINANcial services telecoms ets not b brought into the equation? No super tax rate but 1 percent on low and 2 percent om the higher? Chris

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as a public servant who earned 36k last year i cant afford a pay cut. Will do all my Xmas shoppin in north. No longer have disposable income 2 spend on cinema nights out or clothes. 2 teenage kids very expensive.

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I am a front line therapy professional with HSE. I work in am environment that is severely understaffed and extremely stressful with a waiting list of 2 yrs to provide services to children. I cannot afford financially or psychologically to take a pay cut.

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Why on earth do we avoid discussing a 100k max. for ALL public servants? It gets a mention once in a while but no presenter ever asks an interviewee about it. Why? C.

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Cuts in Social welfare payments is a disgrace. I lost my job early this yr and cannot find new employment.cutting social welfare payment when most of d population r really depending on it ?Its just wrong!

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why don't you give the politicans a break. It's help and encouragement they need. So they can find their way out of the "Paper Bag".... Paul Cork.

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Joe Durkan is a terrific economic analyst and also a great communicator. Very down to earth. I love to see him on your show. Keep inviting him on. John.

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I am self employed over the last six years I have worked hard I now employ twenty people I have taken the risk of buying afew properties and through hard work I am only now able to any myself a good salary why am I bearing the brunt of hikes in prsi personal tax property tax etc whist the lower end of the community seem to be spared adam athlone

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i am a public servant why not get rid of all travel allowance, dual allowances. These r all tax free nd is like a second income. This does not include clerical

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They work a lot shorter week and have very generous overtime a guard can double wages by pulling one shift plus generous pensions plus one third of force have a claim in

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BROWNES Marxist ideology continues unchallenged: if "no one says" income tax higher rate is only 38% of total, he always fails to say dole is paid Gross

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i'm a private worker earning just a few euros short of 25,000 n i have taken 4wks without pay this year due to no work n family crisis. My job is not secure like the public service worker. They have had it to good for too long - flexi time, expenses etc. Wage increases n no extra productive. I don't get a bonus if i don't keep meeting n beating targets, miss 6hrs in a quarter, late or absent. We can't meet the targets most of the time.

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why dont we start addressing the real savings to b made by elliminating rent supplements via nama property reduce the price of electricity and their esb wages have a reduction of bailed out bankers we should get the oil off the west coast back that was given away by burke mark sligo

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the sterling euro rate on goods imported from England still at 62% Eastex blouse in Newry sterling price £50 marked €79 this is the price charged here so no point comparing wages etc with those across the water or across the border also they do not pay the doctor so comparisons are not valid Anne Barden

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I am an employee of a major multinational paying the top rate of tax. The levies etc introduced this year have significantly eroded my disposable income. If taxes rise much further I will consider moving internationally with my company and all my tax revenue will be lost to the country adding to the problem. Raising taxes will have a negative impact on overall tax take. We need to learn from the past.

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Wake up lads. We managed without the banks in the 70s when they went on strike. The ecomany did not come to a stand still.

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Last week i spent 10 euro on petrol 2 have it in case i got an interview. I get 185 job seekers. I am 50 and worked all my life. I an sick of hearing all the sob stories from public sector. One solution is dont pay them for their lunch break. This will result a 12.5 % saving across the board. Interesting 2 see their defence. Gerry

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if one simply stopped the extra 19.5 days leave one can work up on flexitime in the civil service and reduced maternity leave by half we could cut 5% or more in public service staff numbers with no negative effect on service levels.

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we cannot afford to pay anyone in the public sector more than 100,000 and I mean anyone. So everyone paid over that amount must be cut immediately. If some are expected to live on 200 per week others should consider themselves lucky to get 2000 per week and that includes everyone from the President down. Don't think this is waffle because it's going to happen believe me, and it won't be the worst case senario. Mike B

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1.3 bn cut in public service pay will only generate about 600m as at least half of that pay would have been returned in tax and levies anyway. Govt deficit is over 22 bn, so whatever the arguments about the cut it is small potatoes by comparison. Where are the 4bn cuts to come from next year and a further 3 bn the year after that?

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it is unfair that people that earn over a hundred thousand should have to pay so much tax when the worked so hard to get where they are

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Tonight's programme is deja vu. The panel are just repeating the same answers as last night. How many times do you have to repeat yourself? Get some activists on there from various campaigns and let the real feeling in the country get an airing. Pat in donegal

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i am out of work for the last year why done they put money in 2 jobs i know of fellas working 3 days a week that come out whit 2 times more then i get on the dole because they can get the dole for the days they dont work is that fair i say not and that money they get for there 3 days there off would help get jobs going again

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The very banks that have got us in this position are now being paid to manage the bad loans they made in the first place. Paul Donegal

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Public workers did not get rich in the boom as others did these people have mortgeges and bills to pay why is this country picking on the nurses etc that are the back bone of this country.the cost of living is to high to encourage spending

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"Vincent is wrong 2 say that 34% average tax is paid on first €100k and 38% over €1m. That cannot be mathematically correct. new tax + levies would be all at 55% over €100k so average tax rate would be 53.5% at €1m income

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already have had pay cut of 20per cent. If i still have a job in jan (126 redundancies are being announced 2moro) i will have to take another 7 to 10per cent cut. I am happy to do that to retain a job. Sam (fired last nite) from the apprentice to me sums up the civil service clueless!! Tell them to get with the real world!

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€22,000 is better than €11,000 on the dole. Brendan. limerick

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Everyone in local supervalu took ten per cent pay detuction months ago and got on with it.by the way the country is full of woman only gyms

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I'm a public servant. My earnings last year totalled €16000. I hav a lot of low paid collegues paying income & pension levies & joe durkans attitude is thats just the way the world is. Since u are speaking of the judiciary why isn't someone looking at their allowance & expenses & why are they exempt from these levies?

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This country is full of women only gyms/fitness centres! Why cant we have men only clubs then? Double standards. R.

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Your panel talks about the need to cut public expenditure yet NAMA likely to cost 20bn. This is more than the current account budget deficit! We need to get this government out. Karl public servant in clonskeagh D14

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