Tuesday, 14th October 2014
- Budget 2015 begins to share the benefits of recovery across society.
- Measures introduced will assist families and individuals who have sacrificed significantly over the past seven years.
Today’s budget will help to ensure that the benefits of recovery will be shared across society. By reducing income tax and the rates of universal social charge, this budget has continued the Government’s priority of encouraging work and job creation. This budget does more than just benefit those in work; it also contains measures that will help those who relying on a range of social protection measures.
Reducing the amount of tax on employment helps businesses to create jobs and it increases the take home pay of workers. Reducing the amount of tax on wages has a direct impact on all workers. It has prioritised those on low and middle incomes by taking people on low incomes out of the USC and reduces the higher rate of income tax from 41% to 40%. It has increased the tax band at which the top rate of tax is paid by €1,000 to €33,800; this will make a significant difference for working families and individuals.
Budget 2015 has also provided much needed relief for people on fixed incomes. As well as returning a Christmas Bonus to people receiving social welfare this budget also provides extra help in meeting costs of water charges. There will be a new Water Subsidy worth €100 per anum for all recipients of the Household Benefits Package. This will significantly reduce a person’s water bill, and when combined with efforts to reduce water use, it will make the bill much more manageable.
Working families will also have access to assistance in paying water charges. Water charges of up to €500 per year will be tax deductible at the standard rate, this will provide families with a €100 contribution towards meeting water charges. This will be of particular benefit to families with teenage children and adult children who continue to live at home.
Returning our country to a position of growth over the last three years has been down to the hard work and resilience of the Irish people and their determination to put things back on track. All of these efforts have put our country on a path to recovery and growth that will have benefits across society. Budget 2015 is the first budget that returns the benefit of improved economic conditions to families.”