TAX RELIEF on pensions should be limited to €40,000-a-year in contributions – and not the €150,000-a-year allowed currently, Fine Gael has said.
“We believe that the taxpayer should not be subsiding any more than €40,000 being put by any one individual in any one year,” said deputy leader Richard Bruton in a move that would save the exchequer €500 million a year.
Property reliefs, though sharply down on what was available up to now, are still worth €80 million and “should be removed”, he declared, as he detailed the party’s pre-budget submission.
Tax reliefs on rental income should be halved, thus saving €400 million by 2012, while the standard rating of private bus companies should be encouraged to tender for bus routes, which would save €150 million a year, while cuts in rent allowance justified by falling charges should contribute €75 million in savings.
Profitable State-owned utilities, such as the ESB, should be blocked from paying wage increases, while professional fees due by the State to doctors, et cetera, should be cut to 12 per cent – and not the 8 per cent already enforced by the Government.
Offenders guilty of increasing charges where they should not, or failing to cut prices when they should, must be named and shamed, Mr Bruton declared.
He blamed the 15 per cent rise in insurance costs expected this year on lawyers “side-stepping” the lawyer-free compensation scheme run by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.
Money should be transferred from Fás to institutes of technology to help finish off the training of apprentices let go during training by their employers.
He proposed sharply-higher excise duties which would add 50 cent to the price of 20 cigarettes, 10 cent to petrol and 15 cent to diesel that would raise €435 million this year and €616 million more every year for the next three years.
Tax-exile rules would be tightened up limiting the number of days that can be spent by them in Ireland every year, saving €600 million a year by 2012.
In a move that would save the Department of Social and Family Affairs €100 million a year cheques should be phased out by 2012.
The “emergency” suspension of €500 million worth of capital projects this year should be matched by €1.2 billion worth of savings from the negotiation of tougher construction contracts with builders.
