A worrying figure.
Ahead of the upcoming national budget, a new survey has shown that 72% of Irish people don’t have full trust in the government when it comes to allocating tax contributions properly.
Taxback.com surveyed over 1,600 of their customers nationwide to try and gauge the level of confidence in government spending of taxpayer contributions, and found that a high majority aren’t satisfied with their ability to spend public money astutely.
Eileen Devereux, Taxback’s commercial director spoke on the findings of the survey:
“An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he wants the majority of any additional cash to go into improving public infrastructure rather than tax reduction, so may well be pleased to hear that 52% of our survey respondents also favour this approach.
“However, it also means that a sizeable 48% will be left disappointed on Budget day as they would rather see a reduction in taxes, and with the prospect of a general election looming, the Government will be hoping to get this portion of the population on side ahead of polling day.”
Speaking on the possibility of the introduction of the third rate of tax for people with higher salaries, Devereux said:
“A third tax rate has sparked much discussion of late, with studies showing that the introduction of a third rate of tax of 43% on earnings above €80,000pa could yield an additional €433 million for the Government in a full year.
“But not everyone is convinced that this is the best approach to take – 46% of our respondents wouldn’t agree with it, and given that 95% of survey respondents overall earn less than €80,000 a year, it seems that people are not just looking after their own interests and that the mantra of “tax the rich” is not necessarily populist thinking after all.”
Budget 2019 will take place on Tuesday 9 October.
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