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    Special savings scheme will benefit wealthy at State’s expense, say economists
    Ireland

    Special savings scheme will benefit wealthy at State’s expense, say economists


    Special savings scheme will benefit wealthy at State’s expense, say economists

    https://www.irishtimes.com/your-money/2026/05/06/government-savings-scheme-could-puncture-another-hole-in-irelands-tax-base-says-expert/

    Posted by Lawfulraccoon

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    41 Comments

    5. EndakennyTD on

      Yes you invest, the wealthy gamble and you win or lose… thats investments

    6. RiXopher on

      Nothing new there, the rich get richer whilst the rest of the country struggles.

    9. thecrouch on

      Really hope the government ignore all the fluff and spin on this and power on through with it. This will be an incredibly popular scheme with the middle classes.

      People who are saving need somewhere to put their money other than have it sit in deposit accounts in banks or buying property.

    10. Rameez_Raja on

      Beautiful thumnail choice.

      But how are they defining wealthy here? By the language of the article, it seems “the sort of people who might have access to a pensions adviser”, if that’s the case they are not being serious.

    13. miseconor on

      This is needed. The notion that only the wealthy invest is incredibly outdated.

      If we want to stop the dependence on building wealth through housing then this is especially necessary

    14. Aggravating-Walk7972 on

      All of the subsidies being introduced are just giving money to the wealthy. Tis a fine country to live in!

    16. Equivalent_Bet856 on

      Simplistic analysis. If it achieves a transfer from deposits to investment in the productive economy then it is worth it. The taxes imposed by the State are a disincentive, not a revenue raiser. This is one of those times when the ridiculous concept of the laffer curve might actually have a real world application. There’s a massive lack of real evidence in these debates. If someone can show me a model that this will not achieve any significant results and will only reduce income from taxation, then I’ll be convinced, but prove it.

    17. DunAnOir on

      That’s the entire point. The Poors will never benefit FFG, but the wealthy will. This is just the usual tit-for-tat backscratching packaged as something more palatable than “we want to keep the money with us, where it belongs”.

    18. leeroyer on

      Such bullshit. The wealthy already have options open to them out of reach of those who could avail of this scheme. The second we stop treating mid to high earners as cash cows to be taxed as much as they’ll tolerate the pearl clutching starts.

    19. Turbulent-Tumor on

      If the details are yet to be revealed then how can they determine if it will be only beneficial to the rich at the cost of the state?

      Last we heard, the scheme was leaning heavily towards to Swedish model but is now looking likely to move to the ISA model, with Harris saying that they won’t copy any other countries model outright.

      I’d rather we have a better investment vehicle than what we do today which is fair to say it’s focused on multi property ownership than ETFs.

    20. Super_Sonic_Eire on

      There is a really backward attitude to financial management in this country. For most their plan for their savings is bog standard savings accounts or, if you are a bit better off, property and land.

      Investments are constantly seen as things only for the “rich” or “ultra wealthy”. “Ordinary” people consider investments as not for them or even seen as a big of a scam for the rich to screw them e..g the infamous Eircom IPO and shares.

      And what do people consider wealthy in this country anyway?

    21. n0thing0riginal on

      Is this supposed to be a controversial headline? Wealthier people have more fiscal space to invest where/whenever they choose. Of course theyll benefit more

    23. Loud_Tank_5074 on

      How dare those who help to fund it, benefit it from it in any way.

    24. bigbadchief on

      People with more money to invest more likely to benefit from investing scheme. Shocker.

      I would like to know if these economists are completely against state savings and investments schemes like the ISK or ISA or if they just don’t like the approach the government is taking. We’ll have to wait and see what they say because they haven’t even given their presentation yet.

    26. SouthLeast8143 on

      How many experts will this sub ignore because they made their opinion up about this scheme before any details came out?

    28. GarthODarth on

      I mean surely there would have to be a cap otherwise this is just a tax break for those who need it the least.

      I’m probably the target demographic for this, and whatever. I’m not minted but also not struggling right now.

      I can see the social value in moving away from housing being the primary investment route because obviously that hasn’t done us a lot of good as a society, but this does sound enormously regressive.

    29. burn-eyed on

      Irish people have the most backward financial sense I’ve ever seen, for an apparently educated population. The amount of fluff on this is ridiculous . Currently this money generates nothing sitting on bank accounts, so the government earns nothing, so it’s disingenuous to say the state is losing out.

      Also, god forbid someone can plan and save for the future, and be rewarded for looking after themselves

    31. muttonwow on

      The absolute last thing the country needs is for people on over six figures to have tax breaks to fatten their wallets alongside their big pensions.

      That’s including me before some smarmy arse comments that I’m jealous while they play poor on over twice the median wage.

    32. Rogue7559 on

      Oh for fuck sakes here we go again.

      Complete begruder mentality. God forbid we give ppl a mechanism to build wealth without being tqxed to oblivion. Because it might benefit ‘the wealthy’ as well.

    33. freshfrosted on

      Were they saying this about the SSIA back in the day? I can’t remember, I do however remember getting the sweet sweet pay out.

    35. 21stCenturyVole on

      I was pretty much the only person on the sub pointing this out, to the chagrin of the /r/irishpersonalfinance trolls.

    36. Electronic_Ad_6535 on

      To think this fella is running a government in any capacity. It’s like watching a real life episode of ‘the thick of it’

    38. fadgebread on

      This is true. Regular people can afford to invest maybe €500 per month yet Fianna Same have produced a scheme to allow multi millionaires to invest infinite amounts tax free. 

      I read comments here saying ‘great, now I can invest €50k per year tax free’.

      The balance of the tax foregone will have to be picked up by income tax on the squeezed middle.

    39. Educational-Ad6369 on

      Absolute nonsense. It is encouraging people to save for their future and hold savings outside of low yielding deposit accounts. Financial literacy in the country is appalling and people are substantially poorer than they should be due to it. And Im not a fan of Harris but thats pure tabloid journalism if they used that photo

    40. hmmm_ on

      God forbid the middle class, who pay most of the tax and receive few of the benefits, should be able to invest their after-tax money in something other than property. We’re not just a piggy bank to be emptied.