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MIDDLE CHILD SYNDROME is the theory that your birth order has placed you at a significant disadvantaged from your more timely conceived siblings.
The idea is that your older brothers or sisters are in more responsible and influential positions while the younger ones are mollycoddled and looked after.
You in the middle? Well, you have to fight you own corner for everything and often just end up resenting doing so.
It’s a simplistic theory that some suggest leads to middle children being more industrious. Others say it’s washed up pseudo-psychology.
Whatever the truth, it’s something that middle children may identify with. They’ve most certainly been peddled it at some point at the very least.
Ahead of this Tuesday’s budget, politicians are doing their utmost to sell to Ireland’s middle children.
In this case we’re not talking about any birth order, but the so-called “squeezed- middle” and the order in which austerity should be reversed to different sections of society.
The deliberately vague phrase is so loved by politicians and media alike because it can be applied to a broad church.
Everyone feels they’ve been squeezed by austerity, so appeal to that vague sentiment and you’re onto a winner.
What’s more, when it comes to income, the middle is exactly where a huge proportion of working people see themselves, or would hope to see themselves. So again, preaching to that base feels like a politically savvy decision.
But whether or not individuals feel like they are part of the squeezed-middle, the politicians and bodies that use the term disagree about who exactly it refers to.
In a recent 50 page analysis of Ireland’s Personal Tax System, the Irish Tax Institute put the squeezed-middle at the centre of its argument.
In essence, it argued that people on lower incomes are paying comparatively less in income tax than those in a similar bracket in other countries.
It placed the squeezed-middle at income levels of greater than €55,000 and argued that the squeezing occurs because a taxpayer’s income enters the higher rate of tax at the “low entry point” of €33,801.
Irish Tax Institute / TwitterThe Institute's global tax comparisions show that once you go above the average wage in Ireland you quickly rise up the global tax tables pic.twitter.com/WoTyfHwNDc
— Irish Tax Institute (@TaxInstituteIrl) September 20, 2016
Furthermore, the tax institute argued that the top 50% of income earners pay over 96% of the personal tax take.
These arguments relate to income tax alone and people on lower wages would argue that non-income related taxes like VAT, excise duty and local property taxes hit them hardest.
But just to hammer home the point to the right people , the Irish Tax Institute spoke directly to who it feels sits within this squeezed-middle demographic.
It says that “sales managers, lab supervisors and mechanical engineers” are all within this put-upon group.
Ill-informed
In what was largely a rejection of the narrative that middle-incomes are between €35,000-€75,000, Michael Taft of Unite argues that politicians and commentators cynically inflate what exactly constitutes the ‘middle’.
Michael Taft / TwitterThe 'squeezed middle': a cynical and ill-informed debate.https://t.co/d83T1EaSR4
— Michael Taft (@notesonthefront) October 4, 2016
Using what he acknowledges is the rather crude measure of the Revenue Commissioners database, Taft calculates that median income in this country is closer to €27,500 for individuals and €40,336 for households.
This he argues places the squeezed-middle at between €21,500 and €53,500, certainly below the Irish Tax Institute’s €55,000 and above.
Of course, none this is to suggest that middle-income earners haven’t been squeezed, only that the lack of clarity can be used to sow divisiveness.
It happens in every budget, whether it’s public sector versus private sector or old people versus young people, arguments over who is more deserving of what usually breakout in live TV audiences.
This pitting of different sections of society against one another can be of benefit to nobody, except perhaps politicians who are grateful to not be the firing line.
And that’s why the ambiguity surrounding the squeezed-middle is so beneficial to them. The catch-all nature of the term allows them to cast a wide net and appeal to an undefined group who in turn look enviously at those outside.
When you hear politicians speaking about the squeezed-middle over the next few days, what you actually hear is a politician trying to be all things to all men while implementing their own choices.
It’s why choices like lowering the rate of USC need to be looked at in detail, rather than accepted as a move to appease the middle-income earners.
It’s been suggested that there could be cuts to the first three USC bands of 0.5% in this budget, the higher band of which applies to earnings between €18,668 to €70,044.
As pointed out by Today FM’s Gavan Reilly, it would have cost something similar to instead cut 1% from the lower two bands rather than 0.5% from three.
Gavan Reilly / TwitterFor almost exactly the same price the lower two rates could have been cut by 1%, meaning almost the same gain for those on average wage… (1)
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) October 6, 2016
Such a choice would still benefit workers on higher incomes but would make a more significant impact to those on lower pay.
Instead, a raised perception of where the middle lies means a measure helping well-paid individuals will likely be sold as an attempt to give back to those on average wages.
So while there’s no doubt that those on middle-incomes are due a well-deserved break, just make sure to check you’re not the one still being squeezed.
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The reason they’re a squeezed middle is because:
- they earn too much to be entitled to any welfare support
- they don’t earn enough to be able to use tax avoidance mechanisms
If they are sick they have to pay in full to see the doctor and pay in full for any medication they may need.
If they have to go to the dentist again they have to pay in full.
If they wish to do a college course to up-skill they have to pay in full.
If they are renting they have to cover the cost of rent in full themselves.
They need to pay their mortgages in full or risk losing their family homes.
If they need to heat their home the need to pay in full.
If they wish to use public transport they have to pay in full.
If they have school age children they have to pay in full for uniforms, books and the voluntary contribution.
The tax the squeezed middle pay, pays the above for those who never intend to work. It facilitates a certain lifestyle for them. Two foreign holidays a year, driving a newer car than the person that works hard and gives up to half their income in tax.
How about some fairness. How about giving something real back to those that kept this country afloat. Those who took pay cuts along with increased taxes. Those who are still working but still struggling.
A substantial tax/USC cut or widening of tax bands might just help the squeezed middle get back on their feet.
Ah here
But these parasites are “entitled” to live off the hard work of others!
While some of us have to fight debt collectors from our front door from collecting hospital bills for a sick child!
Unfortunately the welfare nation think they have it bad!!!!!!
And the looney left will fight for their entitlements while pissing all over hard working families
@Ted Logan:@Ted Logan: Well said
Ted and Ciaran….what you both said….my family get NOTHING from the state other than abuse and i know many unemployed/underemployed who drive better cars AND have annual holidays abroad….
Well said Ted, couldn’t have said it better.
Picking up on the point in the article, it really frustrates when you hear people saying ” I pay VAT sur “, as if it’s a tax reserved only for the poorer. Everyone pays VAT, and the squeezed middle pay all of the above on top. The first to take the hit in the bad times should be the first to reap the rewards.
SF budget proposal came out mid week and again, the rich pay more. €100k a year isn’t rich anymore in Ireland, and since when did being successful in this country mean you should support everyone else…
Well written Ted, people are so hard pressed that it can’t continue, we can’t keep paying for the can’t work/won’t work brigade along with all the entitlements that they shout for
Well put Ted. The political narrative in Ireland has switched markedly to the left in Ireland in the past 5 years. FF have moved to the left because they’re worried about SF taking their votes. The left wing parties crow about FG being right wing but the reality is that they have followed the same path as FF and everyone is falling all over themselves to help lower income earners. Middle and high income earners are the cash cows.
Everyone has paid their share to help out, the top, middle and bottom have sacrificed the most to austerity, it’s time the elite spread some of the wealth and assets that they have been accumulating on an industrial scale while everyone else has been cutting back. There is enough money resting in offshore accounts that rightfully belongs in the economy and could be used immediately to help alleviate some of our problems.
Hang on Ted, I’m in that squeezed middle you talk about, not earning enough to be comfortable, but enough that I don’t qualify for any help. It’s not the unemployed I blame though, but all of the tax avoidance and evasion and dodgy deals from the political and business classes. Don’t let them divide and conquer! I happily accept that some of my taxes go to support people less fortunate. But I don’t need to be paying more than my share because other people use fancy accounting to avoid contributing.
He said those who never intend to work which is very different to the unemployed. The modern welfare state while well intended has also created a class of people who feel they are entitled to a house, free money, free medical care and lots of other free things and they have no intention of ever contributing to the coffers.
Well said Ted. These entitled parasites love to voice their opinion on how the middle don’t work hard enough, don’t do our jobs right and we have it handy. These scroungers know no better. They’ve never had to.
I totally agree Paul, the amount of cheerleaders the entitlement brigade has beating the same drum daily is huge, free everything but don’t realised someone will have to pay for it. Medical cards, housing,education, food. Dole should be cut for the freeloaders if they are not willing to go work, they have more holidays and better cars than the real working class but cry ever time if anything is taken from them. I wish some of the politicians have the balls to go sort out this mess..
@Ted Logan:
Spot on Ted. And one that you haven’t mentioned is the Family Home Property Tax! WTF is that all about, as we get nothing for it! Unlike UK and other European countries! People in this country are penalized for trying to improve the lot of themselves and their family, eg like going out to work or buying a home! Whereas the entitlement shower that is “those who never intend to work” get rewarded for sitting on their culos! Besides widening the TAX BANDS etc they need to bring everyone into the USC even those on low pay so that EVERYONE contributes! Welfare payments should have USC applied ! Finally, if they actually got their act together and start bringing down the cost of living then again everyone would benefit and it would take the pressure off wrt to wage inflation!
@Ted Logan: Don’t forget the joke of a ‘playground tax’! My brother in law has been informed he has to pay 3,000 euro to the local CC for a playground that is over 10km away from his house. Pure farcical.
@Ted Logan: Well said that man….SPOT on…
@Ted Logan: Agree 100%
I earn 54k a year so after tax I get around 2,900/month. This salary means my girlfriend (who I live with and is the mother of our 2 year old son) is ineligible for the dole. So, effectively, my 2,900/month pays for our rent (1,200), bills, (aprox 400-500), groceries, car-running costs, baby clothes and items. I spend another 150-200/month on travel for work and lunch. We never reach the next pay day without having borrowed at least a little from family or friends.
In 2 months my company is moving offices which will make my journey even more awkward so I am handing in my notice/going to get ‘laid off’ to go on the dole. I will get 800/month, as will my GF, so 1,600/month for the household. Plus we are going to apply for rent allowance which for an unmarried couple with one child in S. Dublin is 1,250. Plus, we will have all of the above perks too! So, effectively we are going to be FAR better off with both of us on the dole, contributing nothing to society than we have been till now where we (I) was contributing 20k/year in tax. In total, there will be a 50k swing in what I was paying in taxes to what I will be getting in welfare payments. 50K!!
I will also be getting to spend a lot more time with my son and not have to get up at the crack of dawn to take a crammed, overpriced train in freezing temperatures to go and do a job I hate.
This is the Ireland our politicians have created, one where it simply doesn’t pay to work! I should probably feel some kind of guilt for my decision but frankly, I don’t. When I go to get my lunchtime sandwich I walk past literally dozens of junkies, each of whose lifestyles I have been contributing to for 20 years. These junkies get government money but my GF gets nothing and now Zappone’s plan to assist parents who send their kids to crèches overlooks people like my GF who park their career to raise their kids.
Between University and post-grad courses, I spent 7 years in third level education. And for what? To earn less than a tram driver and fund the laziness of the people who dropped out of school at Junior cert level!
Well, no more. When Ireland becomes a place where work pays I might think about rejoining the workforce but not before then
I have to pay for practically everything myself because I work full time Ted & i’m on a low income. I have a medical card that I rarely use because thankfully I’m rarely ill. I wouldn’t complain if I was a middle income earner.
@ John Smith
I hear you.
You have on one hand the government Department of Social Protection Means testing your girlfriend based on your income.
Then on the other you have Revenue saying you can’t get her tax credits because you are not married.
Some joint up thinking wouldn’t go amiss.
@Trisha Tully
Your health is your wealth.
Imagine though, earning just enough that your not entitled to that medical card and then getting an illness that required several trips to your GP and proscriptions etc.
You would be in a worse financial situation than a person earning below that threshold.
Earn more in this country does not mean you have more.
Well said Ted
They will give a few euros back with one hand and take it back with hidden increases elsewhere…dont expect any improvement in the working mans/women’s living standards anytime soon.
Don’t forget, due to the nature of taxation, all politicians and those doing well for themselves get subjected to the same tax cuts. Quell major outrage! So someone earning 160k gets the same tax cuts as someone earning 60 k at that very level. You have to be poor to be middle class and have been middle class to be rich and famous.
Yes and they actually still pay more tax you know?! If you’re getting a bigger tax cut you’re still paying more tax…
Either ways…ill stop giving out about the thieves running this kip when they stop dipping my pockets and misappropriating over half my hard earned wages…..
What a misleading headline. The government have no interest in the squeezed middle. Pensioners get something extra, those on welfare get a Christmas bonus, both of which I don’t object to in certain circumstances, but the government knows that the fools in the squeezed middle will continue to get up at stupid o’clock, trying to do the best that they can. The only interest the government has in the squeezed middle, is how to squeeze a little bit more out of us.
Yep. And ironically, the high percentage of “middle” means they get shafted as they’re the highest percentage return group. Thank your lucky stars though! Name any other country in Europe with such a smart, take it on the chin, humorous and happy middle class. We rock it.
Well I hope everybody realise that ‘pandering to the squeezed middle’ is in essence bribing you with your own money. They’ll stick a fiver a week on your left hand pocket and hope you don’t notice them taking a tenner a week out of your right hand one.
Or in the case of SF or the loopy left, the left pocket and the far left pocket…
Jesus we have no hope with all our fat cat politicians
Lets have a tax system based on Principles of Taxation (Canons of Taxation )
These chaps in the Dail need to grasp a few basic Principles of Taxation:-
All taxes should be fair, just, moderate, progressive, appropriate and by consent, allow exemptions for inability to pay, allow for right of appeal …. many Irish taxes are not.
- Tax must be by consent .. all taxes are ultimately by consent.
- Tax must be progressive … more you can afford, more you pay .. PAYE is a good example
- Tax must not be proportional (Renua) .. flat tax is not fair tax. 20% tax on €10k far more onerous than 20% tax on €100K
- Tax must not be regressive … poor should not pay more than the rich .. as is the case in annual Irish Motor Tax system
https://www.change.org/p/unfair-car-tax-law ……. see what 4000 signatories say about annual Irish Motor tax
- Tax must be based on ability to pay … not so for LPT, Water Tax … Car Tax … VAT on new homes … & many more ..
- Tax must not be 2-Tier … LPT on owner homes none on Social homes. 2-Tier Car Tax pre-2008 v post-2008
- Tax must not apply to “Life Essentials” .. food, air, water, shelter(LPT), personal mobility, sanitation,health, ed …
Unless elected reps grasp this then political and social instability will continue … 100,000 on the streets.
Time for Irish Taxpayer’s Forum .. https://www.facebook.com/Irish-Taxpayers-Forum-162371987496881/
@Neuville-Kepler62F:
Quote
Tax must be progressive … more you can afford, more you pay .. PAYE is a good example
- Tax must not be proportional (Renua) .. flat tax is not fair tax. 20% tax on €10k far more onerous than 20% tax on €100K
Quote
Don’t agree, the person on 10K (bad example) in this country pays no tax except indirect taxes like VAT. On top of that they will get a sh*% load of benefits from the State. But if they were taxed then they would only pay 2K!
The person on 100K would pay 20K and they would get nothing from the State and have to Pay for Everything in FULL! It is also 5 times higher that your 10K person and I would consider that scenario extremely reasonable!
In arguably the worst financial crisis to ever hit the state, I must say I take a lot of pride in how the people kept this nation going. They should never have had to do it, but people emigrated instead of waiting around for a handout. Many were forced to take zero-hour contracts, zero-pay internships. The rest got on with what needed to be done, despite the inhospitable conditions that arose in most work places.
Most people anyway. There is a Marxist agenda that has risen, however, suggesting that the hundred thousand millionaires living on Shrewsbury Road high-tailed it with the country’s finances.
The nation’s unemployment rate will not drop below 6 points for decades, because, simply put, the recession has given birth to a minority who are pure self-entitled do-nothing’s.
If you earn €100,000+/ annum, a Sinn Fein government will tax you (with all other current charges) 64% of that. If you earn €40,000/ annum, you’ll pay <20% of that. But both are fairly pointless when SF want to incense the dole with no incentives for actually taking employment.
The article is right about the class war that has been created, but the people who are taking advantage are the people doing the least.
The old age pension carry on from FF is a joke, should be delayed 6 months so others can benefit as well.
@Paul: Regurgitating the FG spin position as usual ‘paul’. How unexpected……
Pot kettle black comes to mins FC….
@Paul: You know I backed brexit, right paul?
@Paul: will TDs and ministers delay their payrises so the sick , elderly, disabled can benefit as well. Hell no.
Hilarious the way fg give out about ff in relation to a €5 per week increase to the elderly which is €260 per year while these same people have no problem pocketing €6000 payrise nearly €130 per week. They would both make you sick.
If the pension does go up, it actually means that pensioners will be the one area of society for which their income is higher now than in 2008. The squeezed middle are called that because that’s exactly what they are: they’re down roughly 8% in the same time period. Yet if SF get elected they’ll pay even more in tax to cover increases in social welfare payments.
Cut VAT by 1% instead, help keep prices competitive.
Damn didn’t realise u wasn’t in the squeezed middle after years of work and on 30k a year hope the 11 year old car that gets me to work passes the nct this year
That should “who are”
Well SF are party for people on welfare FF and labour are for public service and farmers
FG are for public service law and order and larger farming sector
What political party are for squeezed middle private sector workers ?
@John003: “FG are for public service”
Cheers for the laugh john.
SF would not even give old age pension increase during election campaign but suddenly want to now
@Paul: Yet you shill for the party who wave their ‘recovery’ flag while pensioners die after days on trolleys.
FC
Deflection, why didn’t SF use the proposed cost on it in budget to further improve health in that case
@Paul: If you’re so concerned about the health of pensioners why do you support a party who increased the cost of their prescriptions by 400%?
Jamming accusing others of shilling… are you a comedian on the side jamming?
FC. Everyone needs to contribute. The perspective charge is capped at 25 a month. The non contrib pension is over 900. 40% of the country are on medical cards. Sooner or later that will tip over.
Did John just say FG care about public services? Good God what a stupid thing to say there.
@ Paul FG Law and Order? Lol
They cannot fool the people anymore,and its killing them.
Anyone else notice that when you read the comments on one of these articles, they usually entail people lining up to slaughter politicians? ‘Fat cat traitors etc.’ Every time.
Politics can annoy me, same as anybody else, but this seems like a rather banal way of spending an evening. Every evening.
Just my two cents.
The median salary in this country is €29000.
*are
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