Although a relief for the people of Dundalk and Ireland, Dermot Ahern’s announcement that he will not contest the next election is cold comfort considering his continued decision making within the Oireachtas.
Over the coming few weeks Ahern and his despicable cohorts will try to force through a budget that most economists now accept will damage the economy with the prospect of growth destroyed for at least a decade. Savage cuts shall be making the headlines over the coming weeks. The opposition will bluster and blow but in their shirt sleeves they will issue a sigh of relief, from now on they will be able to point back to the budget of 2010 and say they did it, not us.
The reality is somewhat different however with both Fine Gael and Labour both advocating cuts to a greater or lesser degree. Both parties have launched their alterative budgets over the last days but they have proved a disappointment to say the least. Fine Gael’s cut and burn approach is only tempered to a small degree by Labour. Neither plan addresses the fact that by rebalancing the vast inequalities in our society we can also get our way out of this economic firestorm.
So what are these inequalities, or is this just left wing rhetoric? Certainly not. Firstly, figures from respected economists indicate that the closing of tax loopholes for the rich and tax avoiders would gather in seven and a half billion per year, over four years this amounts to twice the amount to be cut in the four year austerity plan. A five per cent wealth tax has the potential to bring in twelve billion per year, over four years this would amount to four times the amount to be cut.
It was well publicised recently that although the attractive corporation tax rate of twelve and a half per cent incentivises foreign nationals to locate and create jobs in Ireland , the reality is that many of these corporations pay far less, some only two per cent. There are no figures available regarding the possible tax take if they paid the twelve and a half per cent but it is expected it would run into the billions. There is even a reasonable argument in advocating a rise in the corporation tax to seventeen and a half per cent, by all accounts still a competitive rate.
There are other forms of inequality, that if balanced, could rake in enough not only to face down this crisis but to invigorate a new Ireland. Our beautiful Island is the most natural resource rich country on the European continent, east and west. Off the coast of Mayo alone there is 465 billion Euros worth of gas, all owned and controlled by foreign companies such as Shell. That’s only the tip of the iceberg however as it is fast being realised that the entire island of Ireland is surrounded by natural gas. Article ten of the constitution states clearly that all such resources must remain in the control of the Irish people and yet this has not happened. Numerous countries have faced this dilemma but have managed to renegotiate the disadvantageous deals struck by incompetent and corrupt politicians with international oil companies of ill repute. Ireland must do the same. The value of majority shareholding as well as tax takes from our gas fields could, without exaggeration, make Ireland a truly self sufficient and independent nation beholden to neither bank nor bond market.
Alas we have a government and opposition that have not acknowledged these solutions. We could rant for days, nay weeks, theorising why they have not employed the rebalancing of social inequality as a cure to our economic woes. Is it ignorance? a right wing agenda? Bad advisors? Incompetence? We will never fully know, therefore all we can do is resist all of the traditional parties, dismiss and resist them. If we fail in our endeavours, we will have failed not only our own generation but generations to come.
Over the coming few weeks Ahern and his despicable cohorts will try to force through a budget that most economists now accept will damage the economy with the prospect of growth destroyed for at least a decade. Savage cuts shall be making the headlines over the coming weeks. The opposition will bluster and blow but in their shirt sleeves they will issue a sigh of relief, from now on they will be able to point back to the budget of 2010 and say they did it, not us.
The reality is somewhat different however with both Fine Gael and Labour both advocating cuts to a greater or lesser degree. Both parties have launched their alterative budgets over the last days but they have proved a disappointment to say the least. Fine Gael’s cut and burn approach is only tempered to a small degree by Labour. Neither plan addresses the fact that by rebalancing the vast inequalities in our society we can also get our way out of this economic firestorm.
So what are these inequalities, or is this just left wing rhetoric? Certainly not. Firstly, figures from respected economists indicate that the closing of tax loopholes for the rich and tax avoiders would gather in seven and a half billion per year, over four years this amounts to twice the amount to be cut in the four year austerity plan. A five per cent wealth tax has the potential to bring in twelve billion per year, over four years this would amount to four times the amount to be cut.
It was well publicised recently that although the attractive corporation tax rate of twelve and a half per cent incentivises foreign nationals to locate and create jobs in Ireland , the reality is that many of these corporations pay far less, some only two per cent. There are no figures available regarding the possible tax take if they paid the twelve and a half per cent but it is expected it would run into the billions. There is even a reasonable argument in advocating a rise in the corporation tax to seventeen and a half per cent, by all accounts still a competitive rate.
There are other forms of inequality, that if balanced, could rake in enough not only to face down this crisis but to invigorate a new Ireland. Our beautiful Island is the most natural resource rich country on the European continent, east and west. Off the coast of Mayo alone there is 465 billion Euros worth of gas, all owned and controlled by foreign companies such as Shell. That’s only the tip of the iceberg however as it is fast being realised that the entire island of Ireland is surrounded by natural gas. Article ten of the constitution states clearly that all such resources must remain in the control of the Irish people and yet this has not happened. Numerous countries have faced this dilemma but have managed to renegotiate the disadvantageous deals struck by incompetent and corrupt politicians with international oil companies of ill repute. Ireland must do the same. The value of majority shareholding as well as tax takes from our gas fields could, without exaggeration, make Ireland a truly self sufficient and independent nation beholden to neither bank nor bond market.
Alas we have a government and opposition that have not acknowledged these solutions. We could rant for days, nay weeks, theorising why they have not employed the rebalancing of social inequality as a cure to our economic woes. Is it ignorance? a right wing agenda? Bad advisors? Incompetence? We will never fully know, therefore all we can do is resist all of the traditional parties, dismiss and resist them. If we fail in our endeavours, we will have failed not only our own generation but generations to come.
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