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Top earners in Ireland do not see themselves as wealthy and feel more insecure about their financial stability than their counterparts in other European countries, a new study suggests.
The study, conducted by Tasc, the think tank for action on social change, released Wednesday, examined the financial situation and attitudes towards inequality among the top 10 percent of income earners in four European countries: Ireland. , United Kingdom and Sweden. and Spain.
The researchers found that despite the higher salaries of the richest 10 percent in Ireland compared to the other three countries, high-income people in the state are more likely to feel insecure about their financial stability.
The study found that 24 per cent of high-income people in Ireland said they had “some difficulty” making ends meet, 3 per cent had “difficulties” and 1 per cent had “great difficulties”, which which results in a total of 28 percent.
Economic commitments
This compared to 15 per cent of higher income people in Spain, 11 per cent in the UK and 3 per cent of high income people in Sweden, who reported some difficulty meeting their financial commitments.
Younger high-income people in Ireland are more concerned with their ability to buy a home, plan a family and settle down, compared to their European counterparts, Tasc said.
The report states that the majority of younger higher-income earners feel that while they may have more disposable income, they do not have the same wealth and quality of life as previous generations, often linked to property ownership. , particularly in Dublin.
Despite this, Tasc claims that higher income earners in Ireland do not want to pay less tax on their earnings.
The report claims that those who win “overwhelmingly” want the tax revenue to be used by the government to ensure universal access to high-quality public services, especially in education and health.
Tasc Director Dr. Shana Cohen said policy makers on all sides must advocate for increased distribution and progressive public services.
“Even before the onset of the pandemic and the new uncertainties about the duration and severity of the inevitable recession, many of those who, in principle, should have felt more secure were already struggling financially or expressing uncertainty about their own future and the future. of their children”. she said.
Very rich
“It’s clear that if the current unequal system doesn’t work for them, it won’t work for anyone else, except perhaps the richest 1% of the super-rich.”
In Ireland, the threshold for the top 10 per cent for those in the workforce starts with a gross personal profit rate of just under € 70,000, while the threshold for the top 1 per cent within the workforce is low. less than 190,000 euros.
The average or median gross personal profit rate in Ireland is just over € 36,000, Tasc added.
Dr Cohen added that public investment in public services “would address the anxiety that this segment of the population, as well as the overwhelming majority of Irish citizens, now feel.”
The overall study focused “most precisely” on the top 10 percent, excluding the extremely wealthy in the top 1 percent.
It shows that the vast majority of those in the top 10%, not just in Ireland, but in the four countries included in the study, do not see themselves as ‘rich’.
It also suggests that since the 2008 crisis, the top 1% of earners are moving away from the rest of the population, including the remaining 10%. The vast majority in the top 10% decile are now closer to the median income source (50%) than they are to 1%, the researchers say.
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