Martin O'Donoghue, Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin, gives his analysis of Budget 1976 and recalls some tough budgets from the past.
Martin O'Donoghue, Associate Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin, gives his analysis of Budget 1976 and recalls some tough budgets from the past.
O'Donoghue believes it to be one of the harshest budgets since the war as it took out over 100 million pounds in taxation. O'Donoghue remembers the harsh budgets of 1952 and 1956, which also took out about 2% of GNP.
"If people can swallow hard and accept it, it's moderately severe rather than terribly severe."
O'Donoghue also discusses taxation on alcohol and petrol, which are old reliables when it comes to budgets.
The key problem with this budget according to O'Donoghue is that the Minister for Finance, Richie Ryan, has done virtually nothing to help unemployment or inflation.
