Ireland’s Reform Example A change in leaders highlights the country’s postcrisis success. See note please
https://www.wsj.com/articles/irelands-reform-example-1496358917?mod=nwsrl_review_outlook_u_s_
Will the new leaders put an end to the anti-Israel bias that is the more painful because Irish fighters and pilots and captains helped Israel’s fight for independence; hundreds of Irish Americans like Paul O’Dwyer, Hugh Carey, helped mobilize support for Israel in America; the Lord Mayor of Dublin Robert Briscoe was Jewish, and Israel’s Major General Chaim Herzog who became Israel’s President in 1983 was born in Ireland…..rsk
We interrupt the panic about populism in Europe to bring some good news from Ireland. That country will get a new Prime Minister on Friday, and the Irish are choosing between two good options who offer a lesson for the revival of European economies.
The leadership change is precipitated by incumbent Enda Kenny’s resignation over a complex police scandal involving charges of special treatment for prominent officials. His center-right Fine Gael party must now select a new Prime Minister and party leader.
Fine Gael is traditionally the more free market of Ireland’s main parties but has often struggled to overcome entrenched interests in Dublin. So it’s remarkable that in this race both candidates to replace Mr. Kenny are running on aggressive pro-liberalization platforms.
The leading contender, Leo Varadkar, is the more eloquent of the two. Most of the media are wowed that he’s only 38, the son of an Indian immigrant and gay. But credit Fine Gael and Irish voters for taking Mr. Varadkar’s policy ideas more seriously than his biography.
Those ideas include administrative reforms such as prohibiting strikes by public-employee unions in critical services. He wants to address widespread worries about housing costs by phasing out subsidies for first-time buyers and focusing instead on new construction.
Mr. Varadkar and his challenger, Simon Coveney, both promise to reduce Ireland’s top marginal tax rate on income—income and payroll taxes combined—to below 50%, and reduce taxes for lower-income payers by adjusting brackets. Both advocate pension reforms centered on private savings accounts. Both would keep the 12.5% top corporate-tax rate while cutting other taxes on domestic firms and the self-employed to expand the economy beyond its reliance on global companies.
That reform agreement is a lesson to most others in Europe, not least British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is running on a welfare-state-as-usual platform. Mr. Kenny and his predecessor slashed government spending by €10 billion ($11.2 billion) to repair the post-financial crisis budget, as compared to €5 billion in tax increases. This weighting toward spending cuts helped return the economy to growth, and revenues are now booming. CONTINUE AT SITE
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