The cost of the recession and bank bailout is pushing our economy to breaking point. Latest forecasts from the Department of Finance estimate our debt to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio at 111% by 2013. Stockbroker forecasts believe this is an underestimate and forecasts range from 114% to 120% of GDP by 2013-14.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, along come those pesky would-be democrats in the Arab world and send the price of oil spiralling. Still, it’s an ill wind as usual and the crises throughout the Middle East and North Africa will likely keep an awful lot of pundits in business for an awfully long time.
If any Machiavellian spin doctor had bad tidings to announce, this would have been the week to get them out there. The media preoccupation with the possible ramifications of the government’s four-year austerity measures and the likely impending bailout left little room for other business stories in the Sunday broadsheets.
“Personal private pension contributions may become a thing of the past if the Recovery Plan’s proposals are implemented to restrict tax relief for personal pension contributions for employees and the self-employed,” according to John Heffernan, head of Ernst & Young’s regional tax services.
Preparations for a new four-year state solidarity bond will accelerate after the upcoming budget and is expected to be launched in mid-January, The Sunday Business Post reports.
The flat-rate property tax for 2012 announced in the national plan last week will have to be paid on top of the €200 already liable for those who own a second property, The Sunday Business Post reports.
The National Recovery Plan was published by the Government yesterday, 24 November 2010. We have set out below the taxation highlights of the Plan. More details can be expected in the Budget on 7 December.
Following the publication of the National Recovery Plan, Minister Mary Hanafin’s statement can be seen here. The salient facts as they relate to the arts sector, as set out by Theatre Forum Ireland, are as follows:
Our friends in Acumen & Trust have isssued the folowing note on the pension implications of the National Recovery Plan.
On 24th November 2010, the Government published the National Recovery Plan, which aims to rectify the country’s monetary position. This signals some potentially radical changes to pension funding and benefits.