A bumper Budget will see taxpayers gain an average of €800 according to some assessments, as the 4.5% USC rate is cut to 4%, while personal and PAYE tax credits will increase by €100 and the threshold of income where the standard rate of tax is paid is raised by €2,000 to €42,000.
The €1bn tax package to be announced by Minister for Finance Michael McGrath will also grant tax relief of up to €1,250 to mortgage holders who have been increasingly hard-pressed to meet interest rate rises imposed by the European Central Bank.
Other measures in the budget – billed as a spend and save plan – include three energy credits worth €450, an increase in basic welfare rates of €12 a week, a double month of child benefit which will be paid before Christmas, and a double welfare payment to be paid in January.
People on Living Alone Allowance will get an additional €200, while those on the Carers Support Grant and the Disability Support Grant will receive another €400, and the Fuel Allowance will increase by €400.
The Budget will see the long-awaited introduction of a scheme where unemployed persons can receive 60% of their salary up to €450 a week for the first six months after they lose their job.
Minister McGrath is expected to also announce new funds for climate action and infrastructure projects, while another fund will likely see significant monies being invested on behalf of the state in long-term savings, a measure that has been flagged as essential in dealing with the pensions crisis hurtling down the track due to our ageing population and low fertility rate. Accumulated corporation tax receipts will
However, the government will be keen to emphasise the giveaway nature of the pre-election budget, with estimates that spending increases and tax cuts will top €9 billion, including some €2.5 billion in cash to voters in the months ahead.
From a total of €13 billion committed to the Budget then, the balance of €4 billion is expected to be marked for “non-core” spending which is mostly to pay for housing refugees from Ukraine, reports say, though some of that spending is also earmarked for a Brexit fund and additional post-Covid health spending.
While the final budget agreed is not expected to reach the levels of last year’s spending, more funding is expected to be made available to recruit Gardaí and for increased student grants.