WE’VE GOT MIXED messages from the government over the past number of days about what to expect in today’s Budget.
Coalition leaders have told us that while it will ‘not be easy‘, we will be ‘astounded by the good news‘ involved.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny says there is a ‘change happening‘ but warns it is too early to talk of a ‘clean break‘ from the bailout.
What we are sure of, is that Budget Day has become an important milestone in the financial year. One dreaded by most. As we await Budget 2014, TheJournal.ie takes a look at how the economic landscape has changed over the course of six austerity budgets.
There are a number of items that entered our daily lives over the course of those fiscal plans…while other (more pleasant) things have disappeared…consigned to history, only to be raised in nostalgia listicles in the 2030s.
SSIA anyone?
The USC
The Universal Social Charge was a 2010 Budget invention. It was introduced as a replacement for the health-levy and income-levy portions of PRSI.
Anyone who earns more than €10,036 per year is liable to pay it on a weekly or monthly basis.
The rate bands are 2 per cent, 4 per cent and 7 per cent. Reduced rates for those over 70 with an income of less than €60,000 were implemented this year.
This year, Irish workers will pay €4 billion to the Exchequer in USC.
The Household Charge
Probably the most controversial of all the Budget inventions, this one – although mooted for a long time – only came into play in Budget 2012. A €100 flat-fee was charged on all residential property last year as a result.
It also led to the ferociously unpopular…
…Local Property Tax
The Household Charge was the catalyst for many protesters who banded together in groups to oppose its existence. Many didn’t pay it. Some still haven’t.
But the LPT – with the resources of the Revenue Commissioners behind it – had more bite. The compliance rate for this year is over 90 per cent, bringing in €235 million for the Exchequer.
NAMA
Does it feel like NAMA has been around forever? Well, it hasn’t. In fact, it is only four and a bit years old.
The National Asset Management Agency was created in 2009 following the supplementary Budget in April. The idea was to transfer ‘bad assets’ to the entity to ensure banks had a clean bill of health.
Last year, the so-called ‘bad bank’ reported a €228 million profit.
Prescription Levy
Along with changes to the structure of the medical card scheme, the health system has been hit in umpteen different ways by the past five budgets.
In 2010, the end user (the patient) was looked to as a means of revenue-raising again. This time, the idea was to ‘tax’ State-funded prescriptions.
The government of the day introduced a 50 cent charge on every prescription item issued to people with medical cards. Pharmacists, who were vehemently opposed to the plan, called it a ‘tax on sickness’.
In 2013, the levy was increased to €1.50 per item and the monthly cap for a family was also raised from €10 to €19.50.
Public Sector Recruitment Embargo
Graduates and Final Year university students struggle to find work in Ireland. And that’s not surprising, given the largest employer in the State – the State itself – isn’t hiring.
The government insists that there is no embargo, merely a moratorium. That means that some job vacancies can be filled in exceptional circumstances. For example, garda recruitment will begin later this year.
But, generally, the civil service, local authorities and non-commercial state bodies, have been closed to jobseekers since March 2009, just ahead of the supplementary Budget 2009 the following month.
Not only have there been multiple Budget inventions since 2008, there have also been some things that have disappeared as quickly as a pot of tea at a political party think-in.
We’ll always have our Corporation Tax rate, it seems, but here’s some things we will miss (and one we won’t):
Free third-level education
Remember when student fees were just a few hundred quid? The fresher class of 2015 will be forking out €3,000 for the honour of attending one of Ireland’s third-level institutions. It’s also less likely that they will be eligible for a grant – and even if they are, that payment won’t stretch as far as it once did.
Mortgage Interest Relief
Although it exists in some forms currently, it will be abolished entirely after 31 December 2017, thanks to Budget 2012.
The Taoiseach’s Extraordinary €200k+ Salary
Probably seen universally as something to wave goodbye to cheerily, the Taoiseach’s salary was decreased by 20 per cent on a permanent basis in 2010.
Enda Kenny now earns €185,350 a year.
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