Irish Taxpayers Association

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BryanMM

Registered User
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Ireland doesn't seem to have a Taxpayers Association to lobby on behalf of taxpayers, contribute to public debate on taxation, bring political pressure to bear on behalf of taxpayers, etc.

If anyone knows of such an association, even if moribund, please let me know.
 
Well I'd like if there was such an organisation as my current My Enquiries is sitting there 3 weeks and if you phone revenue that's only available now in the morning, but they put the phone down as they are too busy. Shockingly bad customer service.
 
Yes, Bronte, thanks. One of many reasons why taxpayers need to use their collective power. Without us, nothing happens. No schools, no hospitals, no welfare payments, no government jets.
 
BryanMM said:
Yes, Bronte, thanks. One of many reasons why taxpayers need to use their collective power. Without us, nothing happens. No schools, no hospitals, no welfare payments, no government jets
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Does that "us" include Apple, Microsoft, and Eli Lilly? They pay nearly half of all the Corporation Tax which is about the same as half of all the income tax. To put it another way they pay as much tax as more than 90% of income tax payers.

I do agree; without them nothing happens; No schools, no hospitals, no welfare payments.

You should also bear in mind that more than 50% of households who do pay income tax are net recipients from the State. Without the "us" that they are not actually a part of they would be far worse off. "us" in this case being the top 30% or so of households measured by income.

Most of those who consider themselves to be part of the so called squeezed middle are actually getting more out than they are paying in. They may well be squeezed but it's not because they are paying tax and getting the proverbial "nothing back".



It is kind of weird to include the Jet the Government sometimes uses in your list as it constitutes an absolutely miniscule proportion of total State spending.
 
Hello,

When push comes to shove, individual tax payers either have to do what they are told, default and risk prison and / or judgement against them, or emigrate.

While I'd love to see a lobby group standing up for the income tax payer, I can't see it ever working (as there will be too many people, with too many opinions), not alone could I see it having any true influence. The power is with Revenue, and that's the way this country works.
 
Irish Taxpayers Association sounds like a name some group would use that might be the exact opposite.

There is a Canadian Taxpayers Association whose funding is not public and advocate for lower taxes.

I suspect any such organisation that is to represent taxpayers and needs funding would end up representing those who fund it. And why fund it unless you want to get something back.
 
Isn't this group commenly refered to as the electorate? I think as it stands they've a pretty good way of bringing political pressure to bear. At least every 5 years.

Unfortunately given the broad church of income tax contributors (min wage to 300k+) it might be a noisy incoherent bunch rather than a group with focused points.
 
MrEarl said:
While I'd love to see a lobby group standing up for the income tax payer, I can't see it ever working (as there will be too many people, with too many opinions), not alone could I see it having any true influence.
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I think the problem is that everyone thinks they pay too much tax whereas by Northern European standards low and middle income earners in Ireland are significantly under taxed.
 
The problem is that no political party or group advocates on behalf of taxpayers generally.

To advocate on behalf of taxpayers, you would need to advocate against a lot of government spending. Reduce the spending and you can then reduce taxation or reduce borrowing.

But if there is a discussion of housing for example, you hear only the groups who want their housing paid for by the taxpayer. You do not hear the view of the taxpayer represented.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
To advocate on behalf of taxpayers, you would need to advocate against a lot of government spending. Reduce the spending and you can then reduce taxation or reduce borrowing.
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Lots of that spending is spent on taxpayers. Those taxpayers won't want that spending reduced. "Taxpayers" is too wide a group to have coherent objectives.
 
I suggested in my deleted post that an association to represent "Irish Income Tax Payers" - those on wages, salaries, or pensions - might be more appropriate and focussed than the more generic "Irish Tax Payers", which of course includes coporates.
 
Ciru75 said:
Lots of that spending is spent on taxpayers. Those taxpayers won't want that spending reduced.
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An effective Taxpayers Association would have members voting rights weighted according to how much tax they pay. In a similar way to shareholders' voting rights. In that case there might be more emphasis on spending reductions.
 
llgon said:
members voting rights weighted according to how much tax they pay
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With that in mind, the Irish Income Tax Payers would have a majority of votes, as in the 1st seven months of this year they paid the biggest percentage of tax collected , that's €21.871 billion or 29.71% of all tax revenues. Arguably that's an understatement, as consumers, or Irish Income Tax Payers, also paid the bulk of the VAT receipts of €16.289 billion. Corporates don't pay VAT by and large, they collect it from consumers on behalf of the Exchequer.

All the aggregated figures are here
 
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