WHILE MOST OF the Budget measures won’t come into effect until January – with others, like the increased carbon tax on home heating oil, deferred until well into the year – some of them were already in place by the time you woke up today.

Here’s a quick blow-by-blow guide as to what’s already been put in place:

• The 25c excise on a packet of cigarettes has already been imposed, with a pro rata increase on other tobacco products
• The increased carbon tax, increasing the price of a litre of petrol by around 1.4c, and diesel by 1.6c
• Capital acquisitions tax has been increased from 25 per cent to 30 per cent, with the band for this threshold has been lowered from €244,000 to €183,688
• Capital gains tax has been raised by 25 per cent to 30 per cent.

Other measures passed by the Dáil last night, which haven’t yet come into effect, include:

• Increases to motor tax rates
• The carbon tax increase for home heating oil, which does not take effect until April
• The VAT increase in the top rate, from 21 per cent to 23 per cent, which comes into effect on January 1
• The increase in DIRT, from 27 per cent to 30 per cent
• The levying of PRSI on investment income
• The reduction of stamp duty on commercial property, from 6 per cent to 2 per cent
• The removal of the ‘citizenship’ clause, which allows tax exiles to escape tax obligations by ceding their citizenship

Other measures like changes to social welfare will come into effect from January 1, after the Social Welfare Bill is enacted. That Bill is to be introduced in the Dáil tomorrow.

In pictures: Winners and losers of Budget 2012

In full: TheJournal.ie‘s full coverage of Budget 2012