Galway Bay fm news – Tax cuts, welfare increases, a new childcare package and a freezing of the local property tax are among the main components of Budget 2016.
Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin have unveiled this Government’s final tax and spending plan before the general election.
The threshold at which people pay USC will rise to 13,000 euro, meaning an additional 500 to 1,000 euro per year extra for all earners.
The minimum wage will also rise by 50 cent an hour.
There will be an 2.50 increase in the fuel allowance, a restoration of the Christmas bonus by 75 per cent and the old age pension will rise by 3 euro per week.
Brendan Howlin has announced an extensive childcare package which includes 8,000 new childcare places, two weeks paid paternity leave for fathers, a second free pre-school year, and a 5 euro increase in the children’s allowance There will be a restoration of the Respite Care Grant to its previous level of 1,700 euro.
2,000 more teachers, and 600 additional Gardai are to be recruited.
An additional 120 million is being earmarked for housing with NAMA being given the green light to build some 20,000 housing units over the next five years.
The local property tax will be frozen until at least 2019 Plans have also been announced today to extend free GP care to all children under 12, subject to negotiations with the Irish Medical Organisation.
There’s to be an increase to the inheritance tax threshold, it will rise from 225 to 280 thousand euro and an entrepreneurial package aimed at attracting 70,000 emigrants home has also been announced.
As for the so called old reliables, all were left unchanged with the exception of cigarettes which will rise by 50 cent per packet from midnight and in a bid to encourage more cashless transactions the 5 per cent stamp duty on debit and atm cards will go and be replaced with a 12 cent per ATM transaction fee.
Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin told the Dail the country has come along way in the last five years.