Sir, – On the same day it is reported that almost a quarter of the Irish population have as little as €20 extra to live on after they’ve paid for weekly essentials such as food and household bills, we learn the Government plans to raise €180 million in Revenue through the introduction of a new “household tax” (Home News, July 18th). This wheeze will likely only depress further already depressed spending power and further stagnate the economy.
All this from the same administration whose Minister for Finance only a couple of weeks ago urged all to be patriotic and go out and spend in order to kick-start the economy.
Still, the heartening news that a sector of recession-proof folk in Irish society have a spare €20,000 to rent a villa on the Côte d’Azur for the week (Property, July 14th) proves the old adage that the more things change the more they stay the same. – Yours, etc,