THERE WEREN’T A whole lot of surprises in this year’s Budget.
From a minor cut in tax bands to some increases in social welfare payments – most of the measures had been flagged well in advance.
But when everything is taken into account – how much can workers expect to have extra in their back pocket?
Let’s look at the breakdown of measures for people earning €30,000 a year.
There was no lowering of income tax in this year’s Budget, but there was a rise in the threshold after which you pay a higher rate of tax.
This only applies to any single person who earned over €33,800 a year, however.
(That has now risen €750 to €34,550).
So no savings for the €30,000 a year earners.
Things are a bit more positive regarding the Universal Social Charge.
The USC rates have been changed for Budget 2018.
So 2.5% rate of USC up to earnings of €18,772 has been lowered to 2% on earnings up to €19,372.
Meanwhile, the 5% USC rate payable on income earned after this has been lowered to 4.5%.
The bottom line of this is that the average worker on €30,000 per year will save about €78 per year with the USC changes.
As there is no changes to the income tax, this will be the total savings from tax measures to the average worker.
Overall saving – €78
If you are self-employed, you will also benefit from the €78 in USC changes.
As well as this, a €200 increase in the Earned Income Credit was also announced.
This will result in additional savings for self-employed workers.
Overall saving – €278
The government also announced a 5% across social welfare payments from March next year.
And anyone with young children will be glad to hear the government has pledged €20 million to support a number of measures, including an extended free pre-school programme.
Anyone who is a fan of fizzy drinks, cigarettes or sunbeds will also be paying more for those.
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