Budget 2024
Dail Talk this week looks at Budget 2024.
Finance Minister Michael McGrath will present his first budget on Tuesday that bears all the hallmarks of an election giveaway budget.
Universal weekly hikes in benefits of between €12 and €15 and tax cuts that will put an average of €800 back in workers’ pockets will be announced when McGrath gets to his feet for his speech at 1pm on Tuesday.
The energy credits will return too, with households able to look forward to between €300 and €400 off their utility bills this winter.
There will be lump sum payments for a huge proportion of the population as it has been agreed that benefits payments like the pension and children’s allowance will likely all see double payments leading up to Christmas.
This would see, for example, a family with four children get over €1,000 in child benefit to help pay for the Christmas toys at the start of December, or an elderly couple on a pension getting a thousand euro in one week from the State’s coffers.
There will be good news for everybody who likes to go out for a drink too because the excise duties on alcohol will not be touched this year, but it’s bad news for smokers, again, as it’s likely there will be another 50c added to the cost of a pack of cigarettes.
A senior Government source last night said that a mooted tax on vapes will not be ready for this year, but Mr McGrath will mention it in his speech, teeing it up for next year.
For motorists, it has been well flagged that the scheduled reinstatement of extra taxes on petrol and diesel at the end of this month will be postponed for a number of months.
The three Government leaders, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Taniaste Micheal Martin and Greens chief Eamon Ryan were locked in last-minute budget negotiations late into the night last night, but the broad parameters of the giveaway budget were slotting into place.
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Credit to : irishmirror