As a public Servant I would presently strike for a long period (which of course means no pay) if public sector wage cuts are introduced without some give on a number of issues.

1)The crusifying cost of child care-I have never received an adequete explanation as to why they are so outrageously high in the Greater dublin area compared to the rest of Ireland. Rates need to be regulated or at least a coherent strategy for bringing them down.

2) Property Tax-why is it that if you want to buy a second hand house for 300k-you pay 20K to the Tax man but if you sell your house and make a profit on your home you pay nothing? Stamp duty could easily be lowered in present climate

3)Tax Evasion needs to be dealt with. I have already started a thread on this.

4) Bail out of Anglo-Irish needs to be stopped. Its a complete waste of money

There seems to be an assumption that all Public servants are married to other public servants. Im Not and my families income is already down 40% due to job loss. Not everyone is losing their job in the private sector and Im not sure If most private sector workers are taking cuts.

Let the abuse begin..because I gave up months ago expecting thoughtful responses on this site.

You can sell your principle residence for 2 million and pay not a cent

Time for CGT tax to be raised to 35% including on the principal residence

Allow roll over relief if you are moving house.

One way of taxing the huge wealth accumulated in the property sector over the last decade.

Treat residential rented property as commercial property for rates with relief for borrowed money by levying the tax on the equity as opposed to the value.

Inheritance gift and Cat taxes also need to be increased.

No abuse Riker.. you are one of the better posters even if I don't agree with you all the time..

to address your points...

1. Is an issue of supply and demand.... there are less childcare options in the GDA, therefore what options are there, are more expensive. This might have been alleviated by a tax break to pay for childcare, but many childcare providers still operate on the fringes or outside the tax system, which means no benefit to the taxpayer in need of childcare

2. You get away with selling the family home free of CGT only once.. Stamp Duty was always a bit of a scam, but no-one complained when the Gov was rolling in it.. As it stands, reducing it to zero now, wouldn't make a whol elot of difference to the property market.. that is screwed for a whole host of more fundamental reasons

3. I've already posted on that.. but vehemently disagree with your proposal of introducing another tax amnesty

4. Totally agree with you.. throwing good (and scarce) money after bad

35% CGT is a nonsense.
One of the few good things mcCreevey did was to introduce 20% CGT - it encouraged people to realise gains and to diversify their holdings.

The change to 23% by Brian Lighthouse Lenihan was just plain stupid.
It will be along time before most of us have any CGT liability.
With so many losses to offset future profits, I suspect I will die before first.

PS
I hereby christen the MoF Lighthouse because
(1) when he talks to you, his head is constantly revolving looking for someone more important to talk to
(2) Lighthouse in a bog was applied to CCO'B - brilliant but useless.
The Coco the Clowen from Clara supplies the bog.

__________________
There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!
- Aaron Sorkin writing as President Bartlet to Obama, NYT 21/09/2008

You can't build a smart economy based on dumb decisions.
- Richard Bruton 18/12/2008

Thats a fair post. However, sadly, i don't think its realistic.

We are hitting public servants because we are stuck. We are in a deepening hole of public finances, thats getting worse by the quarter.

We have no option but to but servants and services. This is last ditch stuff.
That automatically means that we have no room to manoevure on anything else, such as tax breaks, childcare, etc.

I do agree with you on Anglo however, and I've posted fairly extensively on it on the anglo thread.
Its a debacle.

I think its time for some serious consultation with the unions and some creativity. Without consultation there will be confrontaion and strikes and the whole situation will be made even worse than it has to be.

Perhaps pay cuts in return for something that does not necessarily cost a lot but that might improve quality of life.

Most people would probably prefer pay cuts to job losses. Going into a deflationary environment will make a pay cut easier to take.

The money just ain't there mate.
The crowd who have their fingers on the tiller for 22 of the last 25 years bought off vested intrests at every opportunity.
Now we are in the present situation because no one actually governed prudently during the boom
10% year on year goverment spending wasn't feasible.
But it happened.
The PS can get involved in industrial action, but it will not change the fact the money ain't there.

__________________
Its only a chat, we ain't the world council.
In 2000 the Women's Institute in Britain gave Tony Blair the slow hand clap to demonstrate their contempt.
It was dignified, restrained and effective.Doesn't Bertie deserve the same scorn. No shouting, no abuse, no agression just a relentless slow clap whenever he speaks in public would be enough to end that man's presidential fantasy.
If you agree copy the signature in to yours and lets get the whole country slow clapping Bertie.

To be honest - huge savings to be made in public sector but a pay cut is wrong way to go about it - it penalises the good as well as the mallingerers and time servers.

Get rid of the deadwood and introduce more costly and efficient work practices.
Introduce decentralisation on a "take it or leave it basis". Give a fair relocation package but no more. May be a bonus anyway in terms of childcare and property costs mentioned above.

Allow three days paid sick leave per annum and no more which is the norm in the private sector and in most other countries. This would drastically cut down the cases of Mondaymorningitis so prevalent among teachers for instance.

What? Then asking well paid public sector workers who have a secure job and a lovely pension to take a small pay-cut?

Absolutely not. Security is all in a recession. The public sector has it, the private doesn't. Therefore, the public sector should take the hit elsewhere.

Of course, craven FF will do anything rather than annoy their masters in SIPTU, so I'm sure tax increases for suffering private sector workers are inevitable

Doesn't change the size of the pot.
It transfers funds from private sector workers who are loosing their positions in thousands per month to the public sector.
Many public sector pay increases were predicated on the gap between private and public sector.Especially the benchmarking fiasco.
The pendulum has swung in the opposite direction and the PS will have to take the hits with the rest of the workforce.
Especially the crew at the top.Most especially the crew at the top.

__________________
Its only a chat, we ain't the world council.
In 2000 the Women's Institute in Britain gave Tony Blair the slow hand clap to demonstrate their contempt.
It was dignified, restrained and effective.Doesn't Bertie deserve the same scorn. No shouting, no abuse, no agression just a relentless slow clap whenever he speaks in public would be enough to end that man's presidential fantasy.
If you agree copy the signature in to yours and lets get the whole country slow clapping Bertie.