We are Riddled With Tax I tell ya.
Read more about: Economy 
The OECD report on Tax Burdens in terms of GDP for 2008 was released 2 days ago. Where does Ireland fall in terms if taxation burden compared to GDP? Excluding Australia, Netherlands, Japan and Poland.?
5th Lowest. Lowest in the EU. (In 2007 both Netherlands and Poland were higher then Ireland)
We can also map the change in Irelands Tax burden over a number of years compared to a number of countries.
(years 1975 1985 1990 1995 2000 2004 2005 2006 2007)
As you can see Our tax burden has never been that high.
Yes yes yes, that’s all very well. But public service wages HAVE to be cut!
The whole Dublin Consensus is just gibbering nonsense, isn’t it?
Any sort of apples-with-apples comparison would:
(a) use GNP instead of GDP
As the delta between these two is inflated in our case with the proceeds of a profit-laundering scheme that would be impossible to tax at a higher rate than the current 12.5%.
(b) exclude military spend
Hurleys for the FCA to play pretend-soldier are cheap. A properly equiped modern military is very expensive.
(c) correct for the age profile of the population
Lots of old fogeys chew through a lot of exchequer cash.
(b) exclude military spend
Hurleys for the FCA to play pretend-soldier are cheap. A properly equiped modern military is very expensive.
Yes, Denmark and Belgium are clearly poised for world conquest.
Yes, Denmark and Belgium are clearly poised for world conquest.
According to wikipedia, well over 100 F-16s between them. Those puppies don’t come cheap.
Whereas our Air Corps is still caught in the age of the noble propeller. That is, when they’re not acting as glorified taxi drivers.
According to wikipedia, well over 100 F-16s between them. Those puppies don’t come cheap.
Read it and weep:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_the_European_Union#Spending
Whereas our Air Corps is still caught in the age of the noble propeller. That is, when they’re not acting as glorified taxi drivers.
The humble propeller is still viable for the roles (surveillance/training/light interdiction)that we use it for in our fixed-wing fleet. Agree about the helicopter fleet – but the inglorious helicopter shenanigans of the past thirty years (the faking of costs used to shut the coastal SAR down, the purchase of completely unsuitable types off local well-connected wheeler-dealers) are the direct result of FF gombeenism, not the Air Corps’ doing.
Read it and weep
Over which statistic should I weep … Belgium spending over twice as much as us on their military, or Denmark spending three times?
Although on a different topic, Mr Snip’s paper has relevant comments, see especially the appendix
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23232776/McCarthySSISInov26th2009