Policies are dumbed down.

Take for instance the current poker election we are having we all these income tax cuts The PD’s cut top rate to 40% so Labour cut the bottom rate to 18% so the PD’s say they will cut the top rate to 38% and the bottom rate to 18%. While the mirad of stealth taxes remain untouched. VAT, excise duty, VRT, Stamp duty TV licence etc etc. Why?

The obvious reason is that these are harder to sell. Everyone understands income tax strangly people in Ireland understand low corporation tax as well (more later). While the benefit of dropping the VAT rate is less easy to sell. People are sceptical of the ratial trade suspecting a drop would just be gobbled up by the shopkeepers.

But few people have talked about the effect all these income tax cuts will have to the country. By ripping through income tax we are coming at the stage where VAT is the most important tax for the government. A Tax that is built primarily on the whims of the consumer. Look across Europe where consumer confidence is low. Many of these countries are not doing particularly bad but they are simply not spending. But this is not a catashoric thing as they don’t rely as heavily on VAT like taxes as we do. If we experience a downturn in consumer confidence even if it is not accompanied by a bad economic state. The fact the state relies on it some much to generate economy could cause a crisis.

Most people in Ireland understand the reason for low corporation. Say to someone in Britain that cutting corporation tax by a third would be good for the average joe they would not believe you. But people in Ireland do believe this. Why? Because it has been an issue for so long. Through the media the arguments for and against it have been made clearly. People understand that lower corporation tax attrachs ore business and creates more jobs. That why of all the major parties only Sinn Fein want to rise corporation tax. And they are clever enough to know that a only a small rise to about 18% will be tolerated by the electorate. The fact is that the parties are not taking time out to explain these matters. It is becoming an election of easy understood policies. “More Gardaí”, “Less Tax”, “More hospital beds”, “Smaller Class sizes” No party seems to be willing to explain a difficult policy. And many of the parties have these types of policies, like Fine Gael’s dropping of compulsory Irish to increase Irish usage. Labour on more emphasis on Community policing, amoungst others but these are the policy that are pushed to the for front of political campaigns. What we get are soundbite’s.

We need a better debate and education. But this close to the election we are not going to get that.

People are not wearing enough hats.