PARTIES SPLIT OVER BUDGET TAX & WELFARE

Coalition urged to ‘put cash back in people’s pockets’

CUTS to income tax and USC as well as an increase of up to €12 a week in welfare payments are among the proposals on the table for Budget 2024.

Coalition parties remain divided on the finer points of the tax spending package which will be set out by Finance Minister Michael Mcgrath on October 10.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are said to be united in a bid to push for an increase of up to €1,500 in tax bands, and a cut to the hated universal social charge.

It comes as pre-budget figures from Revenue show more than one million earners are paying the higher 40% rate of tax on some of their income.

Other measures up for discussion include energy credits of up to €150, a weekly welfare rate rise of up to €12 and a cut to public transport costs. Yesterday Fine Gael’s finance spokesman Damien English said putting money back in people’s pockets must be a Budget priority. He pointed out that Revenue’s recognition that 1,077,500 taxpayers would pay the 40% rate in 2024 suggested over half the country’s 2.08 million full-time workers are in the top bracket for PAYE.

The Meath TD said: “People are working hard, getting pay rises, doing overtime, getting promoted and ultimately being punished by the taxation system through no fault of their own.

“Fine Gael want to ease their burden and reward work. We aren’t talking about millionaires here; we’re talking about people who earn anything over €40,000 a year.”

He said the Programme for Government commitment that credit and tax bands would be index-linked to earnings as incomes rose was vital for hard-pressed families.

Deputy English concluded: “Why are some parties in the Dáil so intent on penalising a nurse who works an extra shift, a mechanic who services an extra car or someone who gets a promotion? It baffles me.”

People are being punished by the tax system through no fault of their own DAMIEN ENGLISH Fine Gael TD