Within a few short hours, the Irish Government will announce it's financial targets for the next 36 months, Budget 2008.
I have a few hopes for this year's important budget.
1. Let's see a readjustment of the Stamp Duty thing, for the following reasons:
Stamp Duty on new houses is charged by the Government at a rate of up to 9% of the price of the property. There have been calls to abolish this before, as it does not make particularly reasonable sense to charge 9% of the price of a house to simply change the ownership documents, when it is not unusual for houses to sell for over €1m.
This issue has been under scrutiny for a long time in Ireland, under various guises (example). Up to recently, it was suggested that any cut in this tax would encourage auctioneers and developers selling a house to increase their selling price in proportion to the cut in Stamp Duty, leaving the property costing the buyer exactly the same as before any cut, in real terms.
However, given condition of the property market in Ireland at the moment, I do not thk anyone is in a position to increase the selling price of a property.
So let's cut Stamp Duty back to a nominal charge per transaction, and have a reduction in actual cost prices of property by this amount, giving a much needed psychological boost to the house buyer and encouraging continued prosperity in the construction sector.
2. Carbon-type Taxes
Let's have a sensible scheme to achieve a cut in transport related carbon, which is producing emissions which are growing at a faster rate than any other sector of the economy. We need something reasoned and positive, which will encourage people to think about the way they travel, and not a blanket rise of car taxes, as has been speculated.
It makes no sense to increase car tax on larger engine sizes, as people will pay up and pollute happily away.
So let's have a points based system, taking into account factors such as vehicle age, fuel, weight, enigne technology (such as particulate filters, hybrid drive trains, stop-start system if fitted), annual mileage, number of vehicles in the household and the purpose the vehicle is used for. If the system allows people to save money by choices they make I believe it will lead to positive change.
