Dan O'Brien

Long ago.

The American Tax Foundation finds that Ireland is the second most punitive system of personal taxation in the rich world.

Let me just give an example.

No, no.

Is that across the board?

No, no.

OK, so it ranks the whole system in terms of how it evaluates, how punitive systems are.

But you're absolutely right.

We've got a very unusual system here in Ireland that if you're on, say, 25, 30 grand, you pay almost no tax.

But here's the kicker.

After every euro you earn after 44,000, the government takes more of it than you do.

So anybody who gets a bonus who's on 44 plus, government takes more of it than the person who actually earns the money.

If somebody – if you're a business person and you're taking another contract or you're taking on more work,

you know that the government is going to take more of it than you do.

Now, 18 years of that, the only thing that surprises me is we haven't had protests demanding tax restoration many, many years ago because the money has been there to do it.

The government spending is out of control.

They don't get good value for money.

People are paying all this tax.

And what are they getting in return for it?

They're finding government spends, spends, spends.