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HIGH-INCOME EARNERS COULD be more than €20,000 a year better off depending on who gets into government, according to an election calculator aimed at showing the financial impact of party promises.
Taxback.com has combed through all of the political manifestos released in recent weeks and produced a calculator that assesses what each of the different parties’ policies mean for you.
First, a couple of caveats. The calculator measures taxes on income, so it looks at potential changes in income tax, USC and PRSI.
It does not take potential changes such as the abolition of the water charges, which is advocated by several parties such as Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats, into account.
It also excludes the potential impact of a proposed wealth tax or other tax increases not directly related to income, such as a sugar tax.
Full term
The calculator works on the basis that the parties’ manifestos are implemented in full. Assuming that the government elected will serve a full term, the calculator measures the income tax position in five years’ time, if everything goes according to each party’s’ plans.
It is also based on the assumption that the base salary is for a single person with no dependents on their employment income. The calculations do not take into account any potential pay increases or wage inflation.
With all that said, let’s take a look at how much you stand to lose or gain. First of all, here is the take home pay for those earning €22,500. People on this income would theoretically see their income increase the most if Labour get its way while there would be no change under any variation of a Sinn Féin, Green Party or Social Democrat government.
Click here for a larger version
Those with a salary of €38,500 would get the most extra income from Renua, and would see a gain from any party except Sinn Féin, the Green Party or the Social Democrats.
Click here for a larger version
There are very noticeable gaps in theoretical tax home pay once you start getting up to higher incomes. Someone earning €70,000 a year would pocket almost €8,000 extra if Renua gets its way, more than twice the gain from any other party.
Click here for a larger version
There are only significant reductions in take home pay once you start getting near €100,000. Those lucky enough to be earning €120,000 would take home less under Sinn Féin and AAA-PBP but would stand to gain a staggering €22,282 from a Renua government.
Click here for a larger version
Taxback.com Senior Tax Manager Barry Flanagan said that most of the parties’ policies are clear, meaning that the calculator is “very accurate”. He added that Taxback.com is confident the calculator represents the parties well.
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Once Brexit is done we badly need an election, the problem is theres absolutely nobody to vote for
@Ian McNally:
Are you serious !!.
There are plenty to vote for , almost 100 years of ffg how would you know.
@tommytukamomo: what partys are capable of forming a stable competant government?
@Ian McNally: none of them.
@Ian McNally:
How do you know if you don’t give them a chance.
One of ffg’s biggest deceptions is to convince the electorate into thinking that there is no alternative.
It’s lemming voting at its best.
@Ian McNally: Unpopular opinion, but stability in government is absolutely not a desirable quality. The only time politicians do what they’re told as opposed to what they want is when they’re in genuine fear of losing their seats, and stability gives them more wiggle room to defy public opinion. In my opinion, that’s one of the main factors in why the public have been given the two fingers for so long by those in power – prolonged stability in our political system has made them complacent and arrogant. They know they can get away with anything and probably still get themselves elected.
When it comes to government, the more precarious the better. That way they’re forced to follow public opinion to the letter for fear of getting turfed out at any moment.
@Ian McNally: your the problem
@Ian McNally: there is, anyone but FFG. That mindset has these guys taken your vote for granted. 4 yrs out of government will shift their perspective, Ireland wont go off a cliff because FFG aren’t at the wheel.
@Darragh Hurley: says the person insulting people theyve never met…..
@Ian McNally: No one to vote for and too many there! classic.
@Ian McNally: A stable government lasts maximum 5 years. It’s time any government is forced to adopt radical proposals. That will only happen if SF are strong. Even the threat of a strong SF forces any govt to adopt some of their policies. However our electorate are not sophisticated enough to understand that.
@Mock the week: Maybe the electorate are sophisticated enough but totally disagree with SF’s loony left policies?
@Ian McNally: I have a dozen candidates on my ballot paper and most seem to be competent.
It’s amazing how many people vote for FF who have proven themselves to be incompetent by bankrupting the country.
Mary Mitchell O’Connor is what genda quotas get you.
@Squiddley Diddley: *gender
@Squiddley Diddley: genda sounds cooler
@Frainc Ó Broin: Rhymes with Enda. His fault.
There are plenty of alternatives to FG. People need to do the research and find the genuine candidates in each constituency. FG have a a cold-hearted approach to every aspect of Irish society. Cuts to services and higher charges. Their goal is privatisation of public services. Make no mistake, if they ever get a majority this country would be destroyed within 2-3 years.
@P Quinn: totally agree, hence reason to vote for Fianna Fail, a party with sensible and pragmatic policies, and a compassionate leader who understands a society is more than just an economy.
@Stephen Kearon: Great joke! Wait…you were serious weren’t you?
@Stephen Kearon: Are you still drunk from last night or did you start early?
@Stephen Kearon: OK Micheál get back in your puppets box.
@Keith O’Reilly: of course, FG are heartless, hard left clueless and Provisional SF dangerous
@G Row: poor pet doesn’t realise FF are currently in government propping up FG with that soulless confidence and supply deal.
@Stephen Kearon: What party drove us over the cliff in 2008 ? I don’t think it was SF more like your party whose propping up FG at the moment.
Or what about one of your ministers that told people to drive slowly into a pot hole so no damage be done to their cars.
@Stephen Kearon: Gimme ‘Provisional’ SF or hard left any day over the lot we have at the moment, and that includes your precious FF who are pretty much FG’s coalition partners else we forget.
@Stephen Kearon: lol the brown envolpe party that bankrupted the state.
@Stephen Kearon: In case it has escaped your memory, It was F.F. who facilitated the gangsterism of the banks and developers which brought this country to it’s knees. Do you not find it ironic that the party that brought this country to it’s knees now keep in power the blueshirts who only made matters worse.
@Stephen Kearon: I think everyone missed the sarcasm.
@Stephen Kearon: I’d say you’re loving the thoughts of getting claims in on the old expenses again huh? You’re secretary of the Fianna Fáil Wicklow and District Cumann and former Government special adviser to Junior Minister Dick Roche…. Care to tell us all about your love for Margaret Thatcher and what you tweeted at the time of her death that led to you resigning your party positions for a period? http://multistory.itison.net/2011/04/stephen-kearon-and-that-e3250-bill-for-hosting-a-website/
@davey boy: No sarcasm at all, he’s a serious member of Fianna Fáil.
I think all students know fine geal is very in touch with being landlords and collect high rents from students and very happy to pull the ladder up after them in the last generation enjoying little to know fees, Im not happy to shaft our young this way Ive family who might want third level education in the future and will have to pay through the nose for fine geal propped up by fianna fails landlord elite dail
@Matthew O’Kane: Young people dont vote in GE so FG dont care. If they came home to vote like they did in the marriage and abortion referendums maybe gbey could change things
@Matthew O’Kane: That is incorrect but you are not alone in your muddled thinking. FG have actually come down hard on landlords with taxes and regulation to the extent that many have exited the market and are not being replaced. Although rents are now at a record high, and the Irish rental market is experiencing unprecedented demand, the number of landlords is falling with a decline of 8,829 tenancies and 1,778 fewer landlords than in 2015. It is this lack of accommodation that is now coming home to roost for students, many of whom can’t find anywhere to stay, not even a place they can’t afford. There is no room at the inn quite simply.
Fine Gael absolutely out of touch. That’s all folks.
@Tom Bombdadil: Agreed. Even the cover photo of the villain and his two souless dead-eyed sidekicks says it all.
@Tom Bombdadil: and not many others are exactly a shining example of how they would modernise and govern our great little island if they get elected…..
If we’re asking “how much will it cost”, are we allowed to discuss the astronomical salaries of middle to senior academic staff? Or their use of precarious contracts for other staff to sustain these?
@DaveevaD: which academics have astronomical salaries, and would they not be able to earn even more in other universities abroad? Agree that their definitely is an issue with precarious contracts though.
@DaveevaD: great holidays too
@Joe Vlogs: there are a set of 70+ academics earning between 200.000 and 337,000 a year. Professors in and around 136,000 and registrars, directors etc up to €190,000. There are many senior lecturers on over 100,000. Many of these are on increments mainly by virtue if being around for a long time as opposed to being the most skilled or most expert in their field. There is an intense greed at the upper levels in academia and almost nobody in academia is willing to call it out.
@Joe Vlogs: also no, many would not earn more abroad. Far from it
One of the highest fees in the world. FFG have some serious rankings for us in a lot of categories. Not least the most in debt people per capita in world… 100 years of success ..
When asked what he actually believed in, Varadkar’s answer to Vincent Browne was “equality of opportunity” yet his government have been making higher education more and more unaffordable to ordinary people by constantly pushing up the rents in Dublin and every other city that has a university. So based on his own criteria, his government have been an abject failure.
Some comment from McHugh there – that aside we need to look at apprenticeships as options for young people – there is no need for everyone to go to university – a lot of courses are just money making toilet paper degrees for the third level institutes
@Thomas Harrington: McHugh is as dim as 10watt bulb, anything he says was told to him by someone else. His whole life has been someone elses idea
Yet nobody mentions the higher cost of everything for those rearing families in Dublin, from house prices to GP fees to property taxes… 10k a year isnt much if people put aside in savings what Dubliners pay in mortgages. MMOC constituents very aware of this… very few in her constituency getting grants. A nurse or a teacher in Dun Laoghaire earns the same as in Dungarvan yet costs of living are much higher.
Fine Gael “out of touch”, who would ever have expected that. They seem very much in touch with the elite sections of society but tur Ed their backs on working people who elected them
Get rid of national broadcasting and direct the money into student bars, sorry I mean Education.
@The long walk home☘️: No get rid of subsidies to private schools.
@Squiddley Diddley: will cost us more in the long run as we will need to build more schools to take the pupils who can no longer afford private education, not to mention every kid in private education costs the state half the amount as one in public, people have a chip on their shoulder about private schools but the reality is they actually save the state money
@Ian McNally: Shane Ross proves otherwise
@Ian McNally: Nonsense. They can all afford a lot more. They won’t be fleeing to the public system. Anyway it’s a matter of principle.
@Ian McNally: Build more schools? Do what they do in Bulgaria here. Each school building houses two schools. Kids start school at 7am finish around 1pm. Then at 2pm the other school starts and finishes around 6pm.
@Dave Doyle: the unions would never allow that.
Mary O Connor had no problem educating 6 year old children with her diamond engagement ring in the back of the head in Skryne national school
There you have it spelled out clearly – some parties want college fees to remain, while others want them abolished, while also explaining how that could be achieved. I think you will find that Students have some clear choices of who they could vote for!
@Cobh Rebel Tour Mccarthy: young people get screwed cos they don’t vote.
ohhh! journal – leo WILL NOT be happy with you guy’s – you have ‘cut’ him out of that photo – he will be livid to say the least – a photo being shown without him in it – the peacock taoiseach will be spitting feathers !!
“The Student Contribution was introduced with effect from the 2011/12 academic year” – this isn’t the full story, the truth is that the “Registration Fee” started climbing from low 100s well into the 1000s at which point it became ridiculous to keep calling it a Registration Fee so the Student Contribution was born!
The article does not state if the government covered cost of fees increased in any significant way over the last 23 years to cover inflation – I suspect it didn’t so colleges may not have had a choice.
Best quote I ever read: “what if the cure for cancer exists in the mind of someone who can’t afford education?”
Still no mention of varadkars nursing home overrun debacle.
So far it’s costing €700,000,000
€300 million over budget and rising.
When are the sheep going to cop on and stop inflicting these incompetents onto us.
You would think that after almost 100 years of these idiots the electorate would wake up
Education should be free for those who opt in for it. Rich kids can still have all the extras.
FF/FG do not care about student. FF/FG do not care about anyone other than themselves. They always ‘find’ funding for project they want, like pushing water meters or building the most expensive hospital in the world but when the average citizen needs something their answer is ‘it is your fault you cannot afford it because you are poor’.
The Irish have a special way to come up with excuses to punish themselves, vote for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for absolutely no change. They are both in government together locally and nationally. It’s a corrupt little state to do business in
Mary Mitchel O Connor and Michael Darcy are clueless.
Tory Geal, a lovely bunch of out of touch idiots. Leo, more intrested in his social media presence than government and his ineffective flock of ministers all along for their fat nest egg, spending their time throwing sugar at themselves and each other while actually doing nothing of value unless it’s helping developers and vulture funds
Labour party promised to decrease student costs for education in 2011 GE campaign, when they got the students to vote to them and they got into government they threw the promises into a bonus and screwed students, never trust labour.
If you can get a degree in a regional college then why not. Saves everyone money.
@Niallers: means universities would become even more elitist!
Mchugh is an embarrassment, recently he was on a junket to Dubai trying to entice Irish teachers back to Ireland, all talk and no solutions.
Ever thing for noting party’s sure we print own punts give stuff away oops can’t print euro’s
have your say