BUSINESS HOPES FOR THE BUDGET - In seven hours time we'll begin to hear exactly what kind of medicine the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has in mind for us. This will be the Minister's third Budget - we had an early one in October last year, a supplementary one in April of this year and two rounds of spending adjustments.
In October 2008 the Minister said we were in one of the most difficult and uncertain times in living memory. Last April he said we could work our way through our problems. And he has called today the last of the 'very tough Budgets'.
On the tax side, there is a carbon tax to look forward to, but the Minister will also lay the groundwork for ideas for tax reform into the future.
Microsoft's Irish chief Paul Rellis said the most important thing for the Budget was to 're-set expectations' about where the Government would invest for recovery and growth. He said there had been a lot of focus on cuts, but little on where the Government would invest for jobs.
Mr Rellis said it was frustrating to hear 'bickering' between the public and private sectors. Mr Rellis said people should be paid for top-class performance, rather than flat rates for the job, and this would underpin a move to the 'smart economy'.
He said today's Budget will be a 'major communications job' for the Government, to get the message across that we would be in a much better place once we had paid more over the next couple of years.
Avoca's Amanda Pratt said the key to recovery was for people to spend their money with companies they would like to see survive the recession. She said exports were very important, as it was difficult to create wealth solely within a small island.
Ms Pratt said people had high expectations, but we must realise that we had to work more and expect less.
