Madam, - I think Brian Cowen and the Department of Finance have missed the point on stamp duty.
Most housing transactions involve people moving between homes, not purchasing new ones. Some people move to bigger homes and some move to smaller homes.
When prices were going up by 15 per cent a year a charge of 7 or indeed 9 per cent can be accommodated; however, when prices are stagnant such a levy becomes a significant obstacle.
Stamp Duty does not affect uncertainty in the market, which results from falling prices: nobody wants to buy a house today that will be cheaper in a month's time. The invisible hand of the market will correct prices quickly so long as the market is not distorted by other factors.
Stamp Duty is a tax on mobility. It distorts the market and slows its correction.
If I move from one €375,000 house in Cork to another in Dublin, I pay the Government €17,500 for that move. Why must I pay to move jobs? Indeed, if I move from one side of Dublin to the other to save on transport time and fuel costs I get hit by the same tax. Is this environmentally sound? Our stamp duty system needs a much more radical revision. What the Minister has announced is merely tinkering. - Yours, etc,
CONOR McWADE, Sandymount, Dublin 4.
Madam, - In a truly ingenious move the Minister for Finance has increased the Government's take of cigarette revenues by 30 cents a packet. Coming just two weeks after a cabinet colleague decreed that no cigarettes may be sold below €6.79, this means that the poorest of the poor (who, lest we forget, can no longer buy a packet of 10) have seen the price of a packet of cigarettes increase from €6 to €7.10 in a matter of weeks. That will teach the proles not to smoke.
When it came to pensions, Mr Cowen found that circumstances allowed only a modest increase (do I recall something about €300-a-week pensions?) Nevertheless he managed to raise pensions by €14 a week (or €728 a year - an increase of about 7 per cent). In the current economic climate this appears a truly magnanimous gesture - until you recall that only a few weeks ago circumstances were apparently so different that Mr Cowen felt no shame about accepting a salary increase of over 15 per cent.
For how much longer will the people of Ireland tolerate such a corrupt and insensitive administration before there is a popular uprising, as we have seen elsewhere in Europe, forcing them out of power? My guess is in the spring, when current pay agreements come to an end and the Government must try to explain why there is no money for the the workers, though there was ample for the discredited administration. - Yours, etc,
IAN KAVANAGH, Suir Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8.
Madam, - So we are to pay 10 per cent more for visiting A&E to wait on trolleys.
Dare I ask: are we to get more comfortable trolleys for this additional payment? - Yours, etc,
ENID O'DOWD, Moyne Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
A chara, - In Thursday's Budget supplement, the image of the various families and individuals showed each person, from the children to the senior citizens, wearing jeans. Was a subliminal message intended? - Is mise,
TONY QUINN, Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Madam, - As your Editorials of November 30th and December 7th stated, Ireland is badly off target in tackling climate change. We have greatly exceeded our Kyoto quota for carbon emissions, thereby seriously damaging the planet which we share with the rest of mankind. This year's Budget will not reverse the trend.
Before it is too late, we must recognise that the major reversal in carbon emissions now required of us can only be achieved with the help of nuclear power. We should co-operate with our EU partners in this regard. Our closest neighbour, Britain, has just announced 12 new nuclear stations, equivalent to one additional power station for every 5 million of population. Our population is 6 million. - Yours, etc,
DAVID JOHN DILLON, Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Madam, - The announced changes to the vehicle taxation system, based on CO2 emissions, will do little protect the environment. There is no such thing as a "green" car, hybrid or not. Its usage consumes the scarcest resource of all: road space. Congestion increases emissions and costs billions to the economy. A much greener solution would be to tax car use heavily - ie fuel, road pricing - and reduce ownership taxes, motor tax and VRT.
This would make the public transport more viable. Also, VRT should be a flat fee, not a percentage of the wholesale the price, so that it is not levied on safety features such as traction control. - Yours, etc,
EOIN O'LOUGHLIN, Slievemore Road, Drimnagh, Dublin 12.