Well that's a political argument, not an engineering one. The "but we're the wettest country in the world" line tends to irk me a bit!Originally Posted by Neutron
On the taxation issue though, even if you set the banks side we're still running a pretty whopping deficit. So what is your income tax not paying for?
Not necessarily. Firstly don't forget water charges also cover wastewater treatment (accounts for about a third of the cost) and that has nothing to do with water scarcity/abundance. Secondly in densely populated areas you can avail of economies of scale in both treatment and distribution which aren't necessarily possible in more sparsely populated area. So if you look at it from a price per capita perspective that argument doesn't always hold.
Plus you try and charge in the east and nowhere else and you're politically dead!
Which is an anomaly we've had for 35 years. The general taxation argument is flawed given that we have close to 15% unemployed and a further 30%+ who don't pay income tax.
We have over the last 4 years cut and raised enough money to close the national defecit.
However the defecit remains the same, what that tells me is that the current Austerity measures do not work, so what do we do as a nation ? More of the same failed policies.
Its time to fresh and new thinking, simply taxing and cutting ISNT working. We need a national debate on our future with input from everyone, perhaps a referendum to decide our final fate.
But its clear to me that over the past 4 years the current policies of all governments dosent work, it hasnt ever worked for any country in the world. We need to change this idea of cutting and raising taxes as the only solution.
So we raise taxes and keep on cutting, is that really going to solve the problem? It hasnt worked yet despite us cutting and raising enough money to plug the hole in the national defecit over the past 4 years. Whats new now that is going to change this over the next 4 years?
Don't forget that SW and Health eat up the largest slice of the pie. It's an age old practice and does what it says on the tin, however painful. TBH you have not really offered very much beyond the clichéd "we need a debate on this". There have been no brilliant new ideas from anywhere that have gained traction. Cowan was right on one thing, outside influences didn't help our own reckless policy making. The interconnectedness of the modern world does mean that action can no longer be taken in complete isolation.
Last edited by sic transit; 16th April 2012 at 11:05 AM.
sorry dave, but if a lot of the leaks had been rep.over the past 15 years it might not be costing as much .I DONT mean that to be a ref. to your ability. not to worry we may soon have free labour to dig the holes.For those who cant pay charges. cant be fined,no money .no room in jail . Sentence dig holes
RTE just announced that the installation costs of meters will be covered by the NPRF! (National Pension Reserve Fund)
OMFG.
Yep Kenny said as much yesterday. This was always going to be the case but the impression was that it would cover meters as well.
Instead of taking the money and investing it in jobs and trying to create growth we are instead going to use it to install water meters that will benefit nobody and cause further hardship.
Now seriously can you really defend this madness?
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