Two out of every three workers are set to receive a cash boost with cuts to be made to income tax in tomorrow’s budget.
Budget 2021 to have “something for everyone in the audience”
Ministers Pascal Donohoe and Michael McGrath will finalise a Late Late Show style budget. This budget is to include “something for everyone in the audience”, as phrased by the Taoiseach last week. The Government promise to put cash back into people’s pockets after a stressful two years.
Tomorrow’s budget is set to include the following:
- PARENTS will get more subsidised hours in childcare and creche owners will get extra money to increase staff wages
- WORKERS will take home more pay as income tax bands are widened
- PENSIONERS will get an extra €5 per week and social welfare payments will rise by at least €5 per week
The Government are also set to increase the price of ciggarettes by 50c. They are also set to introduce a new tax on land not used for two years as well as increase petrol and diesal prices.
A new €100million recovery fund is to be launched as part of this budget. This is designed to bring foreign tourists back to Ireland. This would be a major boost to a sector which has suffered severely with pandemic travel restrictions.
Negotiations are also reportedly underway to redevelop the Stay and Spend Scheme. The Government are supposedly considering a voucher plan, encouraging holiday makers to enjoy their downtime in Irish hospitality.
“splurge”
Ministers had even envisioned that Ireland may spend around €20 billion more than its recover in revenue this year, due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
Ahead of this budget announcement, the Department of Finance have said that the deficit is likely to be €13billion as this economy looks to roar its way towards recovery as we emerge from this pandemic.
The Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath also said that the Government would not “splurge” on major spending in this budget, following this financial boost.
“I would make the overall point there is a lot of uncertainty. The easiest thing for Minister Donohoe and I to do would be to say we’re now going to go on to splurge, or we’re going to spend that improved deficit outturn”, Mr McGrath said.
He also added, “But it’s still a deficit of over €13billion. If we can reduce the deficit faster and faster, and add less money to the national debt, that’s not a bad thing. We have to think of our children, we have to think of our future generations”.
Negotiations for this budget are to continue today and into tomorrow.
