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Rich set to flee Ireland fears

Governmnet warned over tax increases

By
ROBERT REYNOLDS
,
Irish Central.com

Published Sunday, November 8, 2009, 8:09 AM
Updated Sunday, November 8, 2009, 8:15 AM

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Rich set to flee Ireland fears | Irish News | IrishCentral




Read more: Ireland, Irish Politics, Politics, World Politics, Domestic Policy, Economic Policy, Political Policy, Tax Policy, Public Finance, Taxes
Tax warning: Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has been warned that rich may flee Ireland over new tax increases
Tax warning: Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has been warned that rich may flee Ireland over new tax increases
Photo by Photocall Ireland

Government officials have warned Irish Minister for Finance that high earners are likely to flee Ireland if he raises taxes again in the Budget, set for next month.

Currently many key Irish figures including U2 members, and billionaires Denis O'Brien and JP McManus, are personal tax exiles from Ireland and many others are set to establish residencies elsewhere if punitive new tax measures are introduced

The news comes as reports that up to 25 top scientists and researchers who were recruited to come to Ireland are now not coming because of fears about the economy there. The Sunday Independent reports that grants had been approved for 19 of them but have now been shelved.

According to the newspaper, Department of Finance officials are also warning that the emigration of "even a small number" of Irish high-fliers would have "a disastrous effect on the income tax base."

The document outlines how the emigration of even one person earning more than $150,0000 a year would force the government to replace that person with an additional 132 workers in the tax net to make up the loss.

The document states "This means that for the joy of inflicting more pain on one of the highest income earners, we run the risk of having to tax an additional 132 of the lowest-income earners."

In the tax year 1999/2000, the top 4 per cent of income earners paid 33 per cent of the total tax bill.

The document also shows that next year almost 1.8 million people or 80 per cent of the workforce will earn under €50,000 a year, and pay 18 per cent of all income tax.

It states: "Emigration of a very small number of such income earners would have a disastrous effect on the income-tax base that is desperately required to fund public services."

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Posted by Downunderyan on November 10,2009 | 02:49AM
I can understand fully why people at the lower end of the income range would want to leave Ireland under the circumstances. My wife and I left Ireland with our two youngsters in the late 1970's because we were being bled to extremity between the exorbitant cost of living and oppressive taxation regime. We were new university (scholarship) graduates attempting to get established. However, similar to the worst of the 'Black '47' era, the best of Irish produce was being exported at highly subsidised prices whilst we at home were paying top price for second and third grade goods. Beef prices went up and up, so we switched to pork which also went up in price, then lamb, then chicken, then fish and finally we switched to cheese. At that stage we were almost vegetarian by coercion. Although we were very patriotic, what destroyed our commitment to 'the cause' of Ireland was to learn that the politicians were milking the system to aggrandise themselves and their mistresses. Charlie Haughey as Taoiseach (Prime Minister) was having hand-made, silk shirts flown in from Paris at 120 pounds a pop, when our family of 4 was struggling to survive on my measley salary of 45 pounds a week. In addition to paying regular Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income tax, further deductions for Social Welfare Insurance (SWI), and later on an additional impost for Pay Related SWI, ensuring that 50% of my pay had been deducted before I ever received it. We never had a chance to rise in circumstances, so we decided reluctantly to take our leave, whilst our contemporaries (some of whom were named in your article) stayed behind to take full advantage of the situation of corrupt and incompetent government. The old saying in the Bible "The poor will always be with us" seemed to be taken as a kind of commandment to keep people down rather than as a resigned reflection on the nature of man.
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Posted by Pat Riley on November 9,2009 | 09:00AM
Cut politicians wages!
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Posted by plasticpaddy on November 8,2009 | 02:18PM
I was speaking generally, not of one person in particular (bono). Also, they do not have the right to demand where the money is going, the voters do!
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Posted by plasticpaddy on November 8,2009 | 02:17PM
I was speaking generally of those who would consider leaving, not about one person (bono), and they do not have the right to deamand where that money is goig, the voters do!
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Posted by irishpenz on November 8,2009 | 11:24AM
Unwilling to help out their own country?!?!? Bono from U2 is actually one of the most generous celebrities out there when it comes to donating and "helping." The question isn't whether they're not helping or even whether the taxes are really that high as to be prohibitive. The question is "can I really trust the government to spend my tax money in an efficient and productive way?" If 4% of the population are paying 33% of the taxes, then they have every right to demand where that tax money is going. If it is only propping up an inefficient bureaucracy, then they shouldn't fell ashamed to leave at all.
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Posted by plasticpaddy on November 8,2009 | 10:44AM
They should be ashamed of themselves. Already rich and unwilling to help out their own country, I say good riddance.


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