Indo: Dole is better, Work = 35k Welfare = 47k

[YesSireeeBob]

Madness!

I recently had a long conversation with a friend of mine who lost his job. He was in a reasonably good job and after a little bit of overtime was earning a gross salary of €35,000 per year.

So I asked him the obvious question of how he was going to cope now with four children to feed and, I have to be honest, the answer startled me.

He was actually a lot better off and now in a position to go out golfing every day while his children are at school.

Frankly, I did not believe him until I sat down and did the sums. On a salary of €35,000, his annual net income after the mini Budget was €28,854, after all deductions.

Now he is on the supplementary welfare allowance which -- with a wife and four children -- gives you €443.90 per week, or €23,083 annually.

As he also has a mortgage, he is entitled to mortgage interest supplement which pays all the interest on your mortgage. In his case, this was €1,200 per month of his €1,500 mortgage, or €14,400 per annum.

He is also entitled to back-to-school and footwear payment of €905 per year for four children, a medical card which is worth, on average, say €500 per year (probably more) and a heating supplement which I cannot quantify.

In total, he now has tax-free income of €38,888, an increase in his net income of €10,034 per year for working on his golf handicap.

Based on the calculations after the mini-Budget, you would need to earn more than €47,000 per year if you have four children to justify continuing to work.

FULL LETTER AT THE INDO.


Now golfing pays better than work - Letters, Opinion - Independent.ie

[Digout]

Very interesting, I kind of suspected this. I wonder is this the same for every worker?

[seabhcan]

I'm surprised he was paying that much tax.

I got a tax statement for 2008 yesterday. My wife and I had a joint income of more that 55k, but paid only 2k tax because of all the allowances and rebates we are entitled to. Add to that the 3k or so in Child benefit and we make a profit off the tax payer (ignoring paye)

Personally, I was shocked. A mate in Germany is on 90k and his take home pay is less than ours.

[mmrebel]

Very interesting, I kind of suspected this. I wonder is this the same for every worker?

suppose it depends on your situation i know a guy earning 60k a year living in council house and he has 2 cars parked outside the house go figure .......

[code twinkle]

Incredible. I'm not sure I'd like to be funding four kids (plus myself and a wife) on 47k a year myself but it certainly isn't penury. But the disincentive to work is a huge issue, in fact the issue with regard to welfare policy and very rarely, if ever, have I heard it addressed by any party in policy statements or indeed considered by the media. Is it just because it is solutionless? Do other countries deal with it?

EDIT: Obviously in a jobs market like Ireland right now I'm not saying the majority of the unemployed are actually choosing not to work...

[seabhcan]

Incredible. I'm not sure I'd like to be funding four kids (plus myself and a wife) on 47k a year myself but it certainly isn't penury. But the disincentive to work is a huge issue, in fact the issue with regard to welfare policy and very rarely, if ever, have I heard it addressed by any party in policy statements or indeed considered by the media. Is it just because it is solutionless? Do other countries deal with it?

Every country has this problem.

But one easy solution would be to allow people who return to work to pay less tax initially or to keep some benefits.

Or to gradually reduce the benefits after 6 or 12 months.

[mmrebel]

Every country has this problem.

But one easy solution would be to allow people who return to work to pay less tax initially or to keep some benefits.

Or to gradually reduce the benefits after 6 or 12 months.

Is there not some sort of back to work shceme in place im not 100% but i think there is .

[Clanrickard]

Every country has this problem.

But one easy solution would be to allow people who return to work to pay less tax initially or to keep some benefits.

Or to gradually reduce the benefits after 6 or 12 months.

How about doing the decent thing and slash welfare. The case above isn't isolated. Raise the issue of welfare cuts and CORI (and its well fed spokesmen) will be up in arms. As we sink deeper I look forward to people waking up and inhaling the coffee smell and hopefully demanding proper fiscal conservatism and the free for all we have now.

[caveman]

I live in continental Europe and in the country I live in you get no welfare for choosing not to work. If you do not want to work, you live in a poor house.

You get good unemployment benefit for 2 years if you lose your job but you get nothing after 2 years.

Giving people who do not want to work the equivalent of EUR 5 per hour to sit in their free house is a huge disincentive to work.

A line needs to be made between people who do not want to work and those looking for work who cannot get it because our government has failed. One should never be better off not working though, and the welfare system should be changed to reflect this.

the problem is, by keeping welfare high, FF buys a lot of votes.

[code twinkle]

Every country has this problem.

But one easy solution would be to allow people who return to work to pay less tax initially or to keep some benefits.

Or to gradually reduce the benefits after 6 or 12 months.

But 35k is a pretty reasonable salary - it's not minimum wage. Is it right that tax on it should be reduced?