Head over to our T
Tackling Inflation
Read more about: Economy 
Few of the parties are talking about how to tackle inflation. With it at 5% how do people think it should be dealt with. Two idea’s I like are Michael Taft analysis that the energy prices should not be regulated as much. Brendan Keenan in the Irish Independent has the great idea of abolishing Stamp Duty just for fixed rate mortgages. To encourage people to copy the European model of taking fixed rate deals. Thus when the ECB ups the interest rates Ireland is not hit as much as it is. My only idea would be to drop VAT. So what do people think can be done.
Dropping VAT would encourage spending, which would increase inflation. Deregulating energy would mean unregulated energy prices, which would almost inevitably mean them going up due to a lack of competition in the market.
Capping energy and telecoms prices, as the ‘Alliance for Change’ have promised, would go a long way towards curbing inflation. Half of our current 5% inflation is caused by gigantic increases in domestic and industrial utility costs (electricity, gas and telecoms).
Bizzarely, the Commisison for Energy Regulation’s last two increases in electricity prices were not requested by the ESB. The CER’s reasoning behind the increases was that you had to increase prices to encourage competition, which would decrease prices!
The idea behind VAT would be to cut the cost of living. I.E cause prices to drop. It would have to backed up with strong customer watch dogs.