Government to Introduce the graduated property tax early

Following hot on the heals of the December 7th budget, the government (small g) has decided to bring forward plans for a graduated property tax to be introduced in 2013, a year earlier then the EU/IMF bailout decreed.
Its likely to be based upon your house value, and it could mean that the €100 property tax in 2012 could grow by 30 times that amount for certain householders:

According to the Irish Times:

Under the commission’s proposed scheme a charge of €188 would be paid on houses valued at up to €150,000; €563 on houses between €150,000 and €300,000; €938 on houses up to €450,000; €1,313 on houses valued at up to €600,000; €1,699 on houses up to €750,000; €2,188 on houses valued at up to €1 million; €3,125 on houses up to €1.5 million and 0.25 per cent of the valuation on houses over that.

FS

Market Emotions Cycle

Save Money...buy a classic car!

What is a 'Classic' car? According to the revenue, its a car that was registered for the first time over thirty years ago.

What are the benefits?
1. Car tax of only €48 per year
2. No Vehicle registration tax (VRT) when you import a classic car
3. No NCT requirements for all cars registered before January 1st 1980
4. Cheap Insurance (there are some restrictions on usage), certain brokers specialise in this sort of insurance.

Irish prices among EU's highest

Written By Olivia Kelly in today's Irish Times:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0913/breaking28.html

Irish consumers are still paying almost 20 per cent more than the European average for goods and services, despite a drop in inflation, according to the latest figures from Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The exchequer deficit remained the highest of any EU member state in 2010 according to the Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2010 report published today.

Consumer prices fell in 2010 but remained high by EU standards. Ireland was the fifth most expensive EU state in 2010, after Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden, with prices 18 per cent above the EU average.

The State has remained in recession for the third year in a row with a public balance deficit of 32.4 per cent of GDP, the largest by far of any EU member state. Government debt increased substantially to 96.2 per cent of GDP in 2010, the fourth highest debt/GDP ratio in the EU, having been 25 per cent only three years previously.
Despite this Ireland still had the joint third highest GDP per capita in the EU at 25 per cent above the EU average.

The employment rate at 58.9 per cent was below the EU average and the unemployment rate was the sixth highest in the EU.

The number of homes built in 2010 was 14,600, back to the level it was at in 1970 and down from a peak of almost 90,000 in 2006.

Credit Union Lending Restricted

The Registrar of Credit Unions (the part of the Central Bank that looks after Credit Unions) has imposed harsh new lending restrictions on 7 out of 10 credit unions countrywide.

At a time when credit is not flowing from the banks, the Credit Union network was seen a place where a good savings record meant that one could get a small loan with relative ease and your circumstances would be considered on a personal, local basis, not by a computer in 'Head Office' deciding weather you were a good bet or not. In fact 70,000 new members have joined Credit Unions over the last two years as the public's trust in traditional banks has reached an all time low.

Credit unions have been hit hard over the last few years, they have suffered poor investment returns and a large increase in people falling behind on their loan payments, but ironically enough they are desperate to lend out money at a time when most banks will reject all but the most Gilt Edged application's. Most credit unions have lending of below 50% of the amount that they hold in savings, some banks have lent out 160% of savings. It could be argued that if the banks managed themselves nearly as carefully as most local Credit Unions, we would not find ourselves in the current financial crisis.

They have been restricted in the amount that they can lend in a month, or the amount that can be lent to any individual member. Anecdotally people are unable to go back to College this month as students parents are unable to raise the €2000 registration fee despite impeccable borrowing records.

Unfortunately the only people who are likely to gain out if this are the illegal money lenders with their punitive rates of interest and questionable collection methods.

FS