EASE POVERTY TRAPS
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Earn under €30k a year and you may be entitled to all sorts of supports, including a medical card, Family Income Supplement, and social housing.
Earn not much more than that and these supports are taken away.
Result: for may people, it pays to stay on social welfare rather than work. This is the biggest and most unfair poverty trap we have. Those on low wages who have medical bills and housing issues can end up worse off than those on the dole.
This trap could be tackled by raising the minimum wage (at no cost to the Exchequer), the raising lower tax rate band and increasing social welfare supports for the ‘working poor’ such as Family Income Supplement.