IT WAS JUST three months ago that Paschal Donohoe stood up in the Dáil to deliver his third Budget as Minister for Finance.
Widely branded a Brexit Budget, the headline announcements included an increase in the carbon tax to €6 per tonne on petrol and diesel, free GP care for children under 8 and a €1.2 billion Brexit fund.
Measures such as the increase in cigarettes took effect from 9 October, but many more haven’t come into effect until today.
Here’s what you need to know:
Social Welfare
For this year, Jobseeker’s Allowance for people aged 25 will increase from €157.80 to €203 from today.
Jobseeker’s Allowance for people aged under 25, meanwhile, will increase from €112.70 to €203, if you are living independently and getting a state housing support such as Rent Supplement or HAP.
There’s also a €2 increase in the Fuel Allowance from today as well as a €5 increase to the Living Alone Allowance which will kick in from Monday.
Both the weekly rate for a qualified child will increase by €2 from €34 to €36 and by €3 from €37 to €40 for children aged 12 years and over from Monday.
Parents
A €15 increase in the earning disregard for lone parents, as well as for Jobseeker Transition – available to support single parents entering jobs when they have young children – comes into effect today.
Taxation
Another measure taking effect today is the replacement of the 1% diesel surcharge with a nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions-based charge.
This surcharge will apply to all passenger cars registering for the first time from today.
In his speech, Donohoe said “the surcharge reflects the detrimental effect of these emissions on our environment and will have a particular impact on older, more pollutant cars”.
Changes to personal income taxation would normally come into effect on this date too, but this year the government rolled back on the mooted income tax cuts in light of Brexit.
This meant that there were no changes to income tax – Donohoe told the Dáil in October he didn’t want to make cuts that may have to be reversed in the future.
He did announce that the Earned Income Credit for self-employed people would increase by €150, bringing the total value to €1,500, while also announcing an increase of €100 in the Home Carer Credit – this raises the total credit to €1,600.
Employers
There’s also a 0.1% increase in the National Training Fund Levy payable by employers in respect of earnings of employees in Class A and Class H employments which kicks in today.
What happens later this year?
The rest of the measures announced in Budget 2020 will be introduced at some point this year.
€110 million will be provided through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to support fish and beef industries after Brexit.
Specifically, that’s €85 million for beef farmers and €14 million for fisheries. The government also said that €6 million would be provided for livestock and mushroom farmers, with €5 million for the food and drinks industry.
Donohoe also announced 150 new mainstream teaching posts, and another 1,000 new special needs assistants (SNA), which will likely be available for the new school year next September.
One for the kids – Donohoe announced free GP care for children under eight and free dental care for children under six from September 2020.
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