Here’s a rundown:
THE GOOD
Free GP care for children aged five
- Estimated costs of the initiative range from €40m to €1.7bn
- The measure will require legislation before it can be implemented
- Free GP care will not cover medicines that may be prescribed for those aged five and under
Home Renovation Incentive (HRI)
- A scheme of tax relief for home renovation work is being introduced for a period of two years and gives a tax credit of 13.5 per cent on money spent on renovations between €5,000 and €30,000
Start your own business
- An exemption of Income tax for a maximum of €40,000 per annum will be provided for a period of two years, to individuals who set up a qualifying, unincorporated business having been unemployed for a period of at least 15months prior to establishing the business
Retention of the 9% reduced VAT rate for tourism industry
- The 9% reduced VAT rate, which was introduced in 2011 as part of the Government Jobs Initiative for tourism related services, is due to revert to 13.5% on 31 December 2013. The 9% VAT rate is being retained.
Air travel tax to be reduced to zero from April 2014
- The current rate of this tax is €3 per passenger departing from an airport
- Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has previously said that he would reverse the company’s decision to axe services at the airport should the Air Travel Tax be abolished
No changes to:
- Income tax and PRSI
- Basic rate of social welfare or child benefit
- Excise duty on petrol or diesel and no increase to motor tax
THE BAD
Maternity benefits standardised at €230 per week
- The higher rate is to be reduced from €262 to €230 a week. Most women on maternity leave get the top amount
- The benefit is paid for 26 weeks, but there will be no attempt to reduce the number of weeks that the benefit is paid
- Up to July, women did not have to pay any tax on the €6,812 of maternity benefit payments they got for six months after the birth of their child. But from July 1, they have to hand back up to €2,700 to the Revenue - because the payments are now taxed at up to 41pc from that date
DIRT
- Deposit Interest Retention Tax is set to rise from 33% to 41%. Back in 2008 DIRT was 20%, it has risen steadily since then
Alcohol and Cigarettes
- Beer and spirits were hit by a 10 cent rise. The cost of a bottle of wine will rise by 50 cents
- A €1 hike was placed on a bottle of wine in last year’s budget and the latest price increase is set to add around €2 on the cost of a bottle in a restaurant
- A packet of 20 cigarettes will also increase 10 cent, much less than the increase sought by health campaigners
Prescription charges
- Rise in prescription charges from €1.50 to €2.50
- Last year medical card holders will see prescription charges increased from 50 cent to €1.50 per item
THE UGLY
Medical insurance tax relief
- Medical insurance tax relief capped at €1000 for adult, €500 for a child
- Finance Minister Michael Noonan said this will restrict the exposure of the Exchequer for 'gold plated' medical insurance policies. However Charlie believes this will affect 90% of policies
Income threshold for medical cards for over-70s lowered
- The health minister has said he is unable to give specific details on the controversial measure to save €113m from the review of medical cards but Dr James Reilly added that the medical card issue will be subject of a "cross Cabinet review" that will also involve the Department of an Taoiseach
- The measure will involve increasing the scrutiny and probity of medical cards
- Up to 35,000 people over the age of 70 are set to lose their full medical cards as a result
- Instead, these people will revert back to a free GP card in a move that will save the Exchequer €25 million
Reduced rate of €100 extended to new entrants under 25 to jobseekers scheme
- The €100 reduced rate of jobseeker's allowance will be extended to those up to age 22
- For new entrants from January, it will extend to age 24
- The reduced rate of €144 will apply to those reaching 25 from January 2014
- The savings from these measures will go towards the Youth Guarantee Fund, which will receive €14 million to support additional activation places for people under 25
- Mr Howlin said €1.6 billion would be allocated towards the creation of 300,000 places in work, education and training programmes across the Departments of Social Protection and Education and Skills
