On the up and up
HEART OF THE MATTER
MICHAEL DUFFY IT’S that time of year again when local authorities all over the country are assessing their budgets and making plans about how to administer their services for 2007.
Mayo’s County Manager, Des Mahon, was honest in his appraisal of this year’s budget (in which he is looking for a 3.85% increase in the county rate on commercial and industrial property) when he said he feels the raise he has asked for is needed to ‘maintain the Council’s core services at the highest possible level’. As with other years, the Directors of Services of the three town councils, Castlebar’s Ray Norton, Westport’s Peter Hynes and Ballina’s Seamus Granahan, are all likely to follow Mr Mahon’s lead and look for a rates rise of something close to 4%.
Coupled with these local increases for business people right across the county, there have also being nationwide rises in the cost of other ‘essentials’ such as ESB, gas, postal services and health charges.
ESB’s electricity prices increased by just over 12% for all domestic and industrial users on January 1, while the price of gas increased by 34% only last October. However, on February 1 next the price of gas will decrease by 10% as wholesale gas prices continue to fall. An Post have also applied to the regulator seeking a 14.6% raise in their normal everyday prices, which they want to become effective on March 1, 2007, while VHI charges have increased by a quarter in the last two years.
Labour candidate in the forthcoming General Election, Harry Barrett, has been very vocal on what he believes are the ‘stealth taxes’ which have been ‘repeatedly levied year after year on hardworking young families trying to prosper in a buoyant economy’.
“There is an astonishing list of what I term ‘stealth taxes’ which this Government has levied on hardworking families over the last five years and I think the public at large are looking forward to giving their response to Fianna Fáil and the PDs on election day. They even raised the plastic bag levy last week from 15 cent to 22 cent.
“The fact that we live in a low tax economy is a myth and more families in Mayo than ever before are struggling to keep up with the cost of living in the form of high mortgages, increases in fuel and electricity bills and the upward costs of childcare. The taxation figures may look lower but the reality in terms of what people have to pay for public services – sometimes of a deteriorating quality – is different because of these creeping, stealth increases in public fees and charges.”
Mr Barrett went on to say that families are now working so hard to try to keep their heads above water that they have little free time and family life ends up being sacrificed for the sake of work.
“These families are the ones who pay for everything and qualify for nothing and a lot of the time they end up having to meet the shortfall by borrowing and that is a major worry.
“In a successful economy, with buoyant revenues, there is no need for these stealth taxes. As a Labour candidate, I want to see an end to the waste of taxpayers’ money endured under the PDs and Fianna Fáil and I want to harness our economic prosperity to make it easier on hardworking families in Mayo to enjoy a quality standard of living,” added Mr Barrett.
Fianna Fáil candidate in the election, Dara Calleary, admits that a lot of increases have taken place in the last couple of years but maintains there is no way the blame for these increases can be laid solely at the Government’s door.
“There have been large increases in the cost of electricity and gas but the Government has no real control over this and, if anything, it is the regulator who now has the say. All these increases have to be authorised by the regulator and both the ESB and Bord Gáis were asked to decrease their scheduled increases for this year. Market forces are something which the Government has no control over, unfortunately,” stated Mr Calleary, who also rejected the claim that the term of this Government had not been over-hard on young families trying to make a living.
“You only have to go back to the Budget in December to see there were substantial increases in social welfare and children’s allowance and there was a 100% increase in the first time buyer mortgage interest relief. The top rate of tax was cut and the tax band was widened by €4,000 for two income couples. All these measures will have an effect on the financial position of young families, most of whom I believe are delighted to be part of a thriving economy.”
Mr Calleary admits that it is perhaps the timing of the aforementioned increases that causes the biggest problem for a lot of people.
“We all know that a huge amount of money is spent over the Christmas period and it must be tough on families to be then hit with increases on essential services on January 1. It may help somewhat if these increases were delayed until March or April, a time when people would be in a more financially sound position.”
But for the moment, it seems safe to assume that the cost of living is set to rise all over the country in 2007, with Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, predicting that inflation could smash through the 5% barrier this month due to the many impending price hikes. And if anyone should know, then it’s Minister Cowen, so expect some more unexpected levies over the next 12 months.
