Domesticky

The system is reaching its breaking point—so why are we still squeezing workers instead of taxing billionaires?

Picture this: You drag yourself out of bed at 6 AM, clock in for a full day’s work, pay your taxes, cover your bills, and maybe – if you’re lucky get to set a little aside for a rainy day.

Meanwhile, some billionaire – I’m sure you can think of one or two – earns more in an hour doing absolutely nothing than you’ll make in a year, and somehow, you’re the one funding public services?

It’s time we had a chat about tax.

The Great Lie: “Work Hard and You’ll Be Rewarded”

We’ve all heard it. Work hard, climb the ladder, pay your dues, and someday you’ll get your just rewards. But here’s the kicker – what if the ladder is missing half its rungs, and the lads at the top are pulling it up behind them?

In Ireland, as in much of the Western world, the tax system disproportionately penalises workers while allowing wealth to sit there, untouched. Your wages?

Taxed before they even reach your account.

The beauty of PAYE!

But assets – property, investments, generational wealth – are treated with kid gloves. The richer you are, the easier it is to avoid contributing your fair share.

How Did We Get Here?

Once upon a time, tax was about fairness.

It funded public services, infrastructure, and the social safety net. But over the past few decades, something sinister has happened: tax laws have been rewritten, not for the working majority, but for the wealth-hoarding elite.

🔹 Corporations pay less tax than the average worker, thanks to loopholes and offshore accounts.

🔹 Landlords and property investors benefit from tax incentives while renters struggle.

🔹 The ultra-rich use “legal” tax avoidance schemes that working people will never have access to.

Meanwhile, nurses, teachers, retail workers, and tradespeople – those who actually keep society running – are the ones shouldering the burden.

A Pivotal Time: When Taxing the Poor Stops Working

Here’s the problem: capitalism demands infinite growth. Governments need constant revenue to keep the system running. But there’s a finite amount of money in the pockets of workers, and we’re reaching the point where squeezing them any further will break the system.

Let’s break it down. How much longer can they tax the poor?

📉 2008 – The Warning Shot

The Global Financial Crisis exposed the rot at the core of the economy. Banks gambled away people’s livelihoods, and who paid the price? Ordinary workers. Governments bailed out corporations while slashing social spending and imposing austerity measures. The poor got poorer, and the rich walked away untouched.

💰 2010s – The Wealth Gap Explodes

While wages stagnated, the cost of living skyrocketed. Housing became a luxury. Healthcare and education costs soared. Yet, instead of taxing the wealthy, governments increased taxes on workers through VAT, property taxes, and higher income tax bands. Meanwhile, the ultra-rich dodged their fair share through offshore accounts and legal loopholes.

🛑 2020 – Pandemic Profits & The Point of No Return

COVID-19 should have been a wake-up call. Essential workers – nurses, delivery drivers, shop assistants – kept society running. Billionaires? They doubled their wealth while workers faced job losses, rent crises, and rising inflation. Governments responded by pumping billions into corporations, but the tax burden still fell on ordinary people.

⏳ 2025 – The Breaking Point

We’re here. Interest rates are up. Inflation is out of control. Wages are not keeping pace. Governments are desperate for tax revenue, but how much more can they squeeze out of workers who already can’t afford rent, food, or healthcare? If they keep pushing, something has to give.

🚨 2030 – The Collapse

If governments refuse to tax wealth and keep punishing workers instead, the economy will hit a wall. When people can no longer afford to spend, businesses fail, jobs disappear, and the entire system starts to self-destruct. Social unrest becomes inevitable. Governments will have no choice but to finally turn on extreme wealth and make billionaires pay up—or risk economic collapse.

Why Wealth Should Be Taxed More Than Work

1. The Rich Get Richer… Without Lifting a Finger

Wealth grows exponentially. If you have €1 million, you can invest it and make another million without working a single day. If you’re living pay check to pay check, your ability to build wealth is non-existent.

2. Inequality Is a Policy Choice

Governments choose who to tax. They choose what to prioritise. When they prioritise corporate interests and the financial elite over ordinary workers, inequality isn’t an accident—it’s a design.

3. The Economy Runs on Labour, Not Hoarded Wealth

Despite what billionaires would have you believe, economies aren’t powered by hedge funds—they’re powered by people. By nurses, shop workers, engineers, carers. Taxing wealth more than work means redistributing money back into the real economy, rather than letting it sit in offshore accounts.

What Needs to Change?

We’re not reinventing the wheel here — other countries have already implemented fairer tax systems.

So what could Ireland (and the wider world) do to make tax work for everyone, not just the privileged few?

Increase Taxes on Wealth & Assets

Make the ultra-rich pay their fair share. Higher taxes on property portfolios, investment income, and intergenerational wealth would level the playing field.

Close Loopholes

No more tax havens, no more sneaky deductions for the super-rich, no more “legal” ways to dodge taxes.

Lower Income Taxes for Workers

If you earn your money through work, you shouldn’t be paying a higher rate than someone who simply owns things.

Corporate Responsibility

Big corporations benefit from Ireland’s tax policies, but do they give back proportionally? It’s time they did.

The Bottom Line

The system is broken—but it’s fixable. Tax shouldn’t be a tool for keeping the rich richer and workers stuck in an endless cycle of struggle. It should be about fairness.

The next time someone tells you we “can’t afford” better healthcare, housing, or public services, ask them this:

Can we afford to keep letting billionaires hoard their wealth while workers foot the bill?

Because the truth is, we don’t have a money problem. We have a distribution problem.

And if we don’t fix it soon, the whole system is going to collapse under its own greed.