One year on, and the Republic’s tax take is heading for half it’s expenditure…

Here’s one reason why 46 leading economists are so freaked by the Government’s proposed NAMA legislation:

“Nama has unfolded against the slow but steady deterioration in the State’s finances. We now look to be on course for a Government deficit of close to €30 billion. In short, this means that for every €1 the State spends, it takes in tax only 50 cent. To close this gap in State expenditure would require the implementation of more then five times the identified savings of the McCarthy report.

“It is also clear that while world economic conditions might well begin to improve in 2010, this will not easily translate into improved conditions here. A significant structural deficit remains in place in the Irish State finances with as yet little in the way of solid policies implemented to close this.”

I suppose the short form of that argument is that the state has not got the spends to be helping out an ad hoc group of bank shareholders and developers, for a set of commitments we still don’t know the full extent of…

Mick Fealty

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty