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So the general talk is that this Budget is going to be harsh. Very Harsh. But Fianna Fail are not ones to create a total PR disaster. They are going to cut the cost of alcohol by 10c. Now from Alcohol Action Ireland
In 2007, the Department of Finance’s Tax Strategy Group calculated the anticipated yield of a range of increases on alcoholic products
———-Those small increases are estimated to be worth a total of €144.4m to the exchequer. The anticipated yield from the increases proposed could be invested in a number of ways.
So lets do a rough calculation. if 10c increase gives an increase of €144.4m. A 10c decrease would cost €144.4Million. Can anyone see better uses of a number like that? Is €144.4 Million PR money well spent. Would this decease the money spent in cross border shopping by all that much?
Well I presume the decrease it targeted to reduce cross border shopping, so it could be revenue neutral while at the time helping with employment in the retail sector.
Also to keep the CPI low. Anyone know if alcohol is in the CPI, or if it takes up a higher or lower percentage of a low income families budget?
Its latter-day bread and circuses … Dutch Gold and Sky Sports.
Expect Sky subscriptions to be covered by the welfare package in Budget 2011.
It’s difficult to comment on anything at the moment, but one thing that strikes me a strange, is that the SW bill will be the first vote out of the blocks, to be completed in the next two days. That means that the legislation COULD be signed by the President and enacted into law before the week end, albeit with a commencement date of the 1st January 2010.
Assuming the government have their maths right, they will have the votes to do this, but if by any chance the government was to loose a vote on OTHER elements of the budget next week, the government could in effect be brought down, but the SW changes would still remain lawfull.
Just a thought, usually the SW bill is the last to be voted on
Mattie McGrath must have lobbied hard on behalf of his friends. Also Jackie Healy Rae probably made it a precondition of his support. Afterall he hasn’t spend this long getting near motorway standard roads leading to his pub if his constituants can’t afford his drink.
Ah I think it’s more for the Vintners to be honest – to try to get people back in the pubs, it really won’t have that much of an affect on people shopping over the border. It will help to give people a reason to shop here, but if Lenihan cuts VAT then we might get the norhtern shoppers back agian. See my post on it on my blog.
Andrew i don’t see a change of 10c a pint doing much to counter act the sterling euro differential