OK, I don't earn enough to pay a much higher level of income tax than I did in the UK. I can earn up to EUR28,000 pa at a reasonable rate - I'll find out exactly what it is for y'all!
But - we don't get free bin collections or the NHS - a doctor's visit is 40-50 euros plus medicine costs. Schools in the countryside are not as well funded generally and public transport is expensive and rare! So some of what you're paying for in council tax, we're missing.
VAT is 21% - that's still more than the UK I think? And Ireland doesn't have the high level of retail competition to bring down prices - none of your Matalans, Ikeas etc here yet. Which I think is a good thing, until I end up paying over the odds then I'm fickle
For the water, we have our own well so we're grand, it gets pumped straight into our cold water tanks. A lot of rural houses have the same deal or a well is shared between 4 or 5 houses.
I think they've brought in water charges in some of the big cities but I'm such a culchie ( yokel
) now I never go to them.And wages are sadly very low, at my level of incompetence anyway.Car tax is high and insurance is ridiculous - the average young driver can expect to pay over 3,000 euros a year. I'm getting me a scooter!
But if you're artistic you can earn without paying income tax - writers and artists are exempt.
So swings and roundabouts as in any country I guess. It works for us because our rent and living costs are so low, we don't mind slumming it sometimes
