Independent Ireland Announces Cost of Living Policy
“Independent Ireland has a plan to address our cost-of-living crisis and support businesses with common-sense measures. Government policies have ignored this crisis and taxed small businesses so much that owners are forced to close. The Government’s disastrous policies keep fuel and groceries too expensive, housing out of reach, and make it impossible to run a profitable business. We will change that on day one by cutting taxes, increasing supports to businesses, and enhancing services and schemes available to ordinary people,” said Independent Ireland Leader TD Michael Collins of Cork South West during remarks on September 24.
“We will Abolish USC & PRSI contributions for pension-aged people who continue to work and increase tax relief for those contributing to private pensions. We will reduce middle-class taxes by ensuring no one earning less than €50,000 per annum is affected by the highest marginal rate of taxation. Finally, we will freeze all “green taxes” to review the effectiveness of the stated purpose and adjust accordingly. If they are not serving their stated purpose of reducing carbon impact, they are simply taxes, not green taxes. Should they be simply taxes, we will repeal them,” Collins said.
“Small businesses are hampered by high taxes and every week we hear of new closures. To address this, Independent Ireland will reduce VAT to nine percent for and tourism and hospitality, excluding accommodation; equalize VAT at nine percent for restaurants and pubs to prevent two-tier taxation; reform outdated VAT thresholds to promote and protect small business; and reduce taxation on overtime to fill staffing shortages and reward hard work,” Collins said.
“We will also Initiate a program to support local radio and newspapers in the area of public service reporting of the courts and matters of constitutional importance to guarantee continuation of this vital public service. We will also Enable An Post to deliver a full suite of banking services in rural Ireland by creating a new commercial bank in conjunction with credit unions. Finally, we will restore employment opportunities and enhance investment in areas where jobs have been lost in Bord na Móna and ESB and introduce measures to facilitate community groups of standing with access to up-front funding,” said Independent Ireland TD Richard O’Donohue of Limerick County.
“Independent Ireland proposes we begin addressing the critical shortage of critical workers by subsidising the rental of state-owned accommodation for front-line workers (nurses, junior doctors, teachers, gardaí, members of defence forces and fire brigade, etc.) on low wages for a period of up to five years following entry to service. We also will introduce “locality pay” for civil and public servants, to attract skilled civil servants in higher-cost urban settings. Finally, we will encourage skilled Irish workers to return to Ireland from abroad (builders, teachers, doctors, nurses, et al.) by providing tax relief for five years to returnees via the Special Assignee Relief Program (SARP),” O’Donohue said.
“Separately, Independent Ireland will financially support community employment schemes (e.g. CSP, RSS, CE, TUS, HSC etc.); Expand prescription drug payment and public transport commuter schemes. We will also increase funding for creche to reduce childcare costs Amend means tests for educational grants for third-level education to take pressure off the middle class, who are disproportionately burdened by education costs and create a low-interest, government-backed student loan scheme available to all secondary school graduates,” said Independent Ireland TD Michael Fitzmaurice of Roscommon Galway.
“We will pay for these programs by reducing spending elsewhere. We will immediately review and reform spending in the NGO sector to reduce government waste, reward NGOs that provide valuable services and value for money, and cut funding to those that do not. We must also reduce the amount of overlap provided by various organisations. In some cases, there are several different organisations – all receiving state funding – that perform the exact same work. This is not sustainable and must change,” said City Cllr. Ken O’Flynn, who is an Independent Ireland General Election candidate in Cork North Central.
Download the full policy here: www.independentireland.ie/costofliving
