COALITION PREPARING TO SET OUT FIVE-YEAR TAX REFORM PLAN - The Coalition is considering using its spring economic statement to outline a five-year tax reform plan as part of a springboard to try and secure a second term in office, writes the Irish Times.
Senior Coalition sources said that while the tax reform template for the next budget has already been set - a repeat of the changes made for 2015 - a five-year outline may be provided to show what Fine Gael and Labour hope to do with a second term in office. It is not yet clear what specific reforms a five-year plan could outline, although TDs from the Coalition parties have made repeated calls for reform of the Universal Social Charge (USC). The spring statement will include updated figures and targets for the economy and employment. And senior sources have said a five-year tax initiative - which would effectively form the core of a re-election pitch - is under consideration. It is understood Fine Gael is keener on the idea than Labour. "We are going to use every opportunity to cut income tax," said one source. "All we will talk about is jobs and income tax." Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Joan Burton announced on Wednesday that the Coalition has brought forward by two years its target for achieving full employment, from 2020 to 2018. If re-elected the Government will also follow the 2015 tax-cuts model for the first budget of its second term, budget 2017, focussing on what Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has defined as the "squeezed middle": those who earn between €32,800 and €70,000.
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BANKS 'CHERRY PICKING' HOME LOAN ARREARS CASES FOR DEALS - Thousands of homeowners face the threat of repossession because banks are failing to sort out the arrears crisis, a new report concludes. In an in-depth report from the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) group, banks have been accused of picking off the easiest arrears cases and ignoring those in longer-term arrears says the Irish Independent. Homeowners who are only in arrears for a short while are more likely to be offered a deal to lower their repayments than those who are two years or more behind on repayments. The study, which has been seen by the newspaper, says the overall numbers going into arrears are falling, but banks were not dealing with difficult longer-term cases. The process of resolving the home-loan arrears crisis should be taken out of the hands of banks and a state body should be set up to resolve the issue, the FLAC report by lawyer Paul Joyce recommends. This body should have the powers to force banks into compulsory write-downs of debt for genuine cases where people can't pay. After going into detail on figures in arrears and the number of restructures put in place by banks, FLAC says: "Our overall conclusion is that these efforts are broadly failing and that there is likely to be a substantial spike in repossessions unless far more radical action is taken." The report looks at the statistics on arrears produced by the Central Bank and the Department of Finance for last year.
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LAST YEAR ‘WAS STRONGEST FOR JOB CREATION SINCE 2008’ - December saw a 49% year-on-year rise in the number of professional jobs being made available, bringing to a close the strongest year of job creation since 2008. The latest Irish Employment Monitor, from recruitment giant Morgan McKinley, shows the life sciences and pharmaceutical sectors showed particular dynamism during 2014, with graduates in these areas in high demand by employers. The survey also showed steady demand for financial services staff and a marked pick-up in SME hiring levels, with small domestic firms actively competing with multinationals for talent, writes the Irish Examiner. Morgan McKinley now expects a more competitive and candidate-led jobs market, for those with specialist skills, to emerge in 2015. “We anticipate renewed confidence and activity in hiring from existing and new employers in 2015,” said Karen O’Flaherty, chief operations officer with Morgan McKinley Ireland. “SMEs were more active in 2014 and are now competing with multinationals for similar talent. We forecast that this will continue into 2015. It was also evident that employers who had hired contractors in 2014 are more likely to offer permanent roles in 2015 in order to secure talent. This is a strong indicator of business confidence returning to the market,” she added.
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BMW SOUNDS ALARM OVER TECH COMPANIES SEEKING CONNECTED CAR DATA - Technology companies and advertisers are putting pressure on carmakers to pass on data collected by connected cars, BMW has warned, highlighting the concerns the automotive industry faces as it treads a fine line between performance and privacy. Ian Robertson, the German manufacturer’s board member for sales and marketing, said that every car rolling off its production lines had a wireless network that could yield information about location, speed, acceleration and even the occupants of the car. "There’s plenty of people out there saying: ‘Give us all the data you’ve got and we can tell you what we can do with it’," he told the Financial Times on the sidelines of the Detroit motor show, adding that this included “Silicon Valley” companies, as well as advertising groups. “And we’re saying: ‘No thank you’.” About two-thirds of today’s new cars have sensors and communications systems that send and receive data, offering potential for carmakers to find out more about how drivers use their vehicles. But the systems could also provide insurers and advertisers with personal information about customers. BMW said it had a firewall in place to protect crucial data about the internal running of the car. But any transmission of data raises concerns about who might access that information - and what they might do with it.
