Your €4,600 bill
That’s what an average household will be paying each year in extra taxes and charges by end of plan
FAMILIES will be nearly €4,600 a year worse off by the end of the Government’s rescue plan.
The full impact of the €15bn package of tax hikes and swingeing spending cuts was laid bare in the ‘Super Budget’ last night.
No one will be spared from the draconian blueprint for recovery, which includes €3bn in social welfare cuts, 25,000 public sector job losses, and income tax hikes.
But middle-income families will bear the brunt of many of the measures aimed at filling the black hole in the public finances.
They now face extra income tax payments, water charges, pension changes, a site valuation tax, higher college fees, a doubling of the carbon tax, cuts to child benefit, and the loss of tax reliefs.
The pension changes alone will cost a family a net €1,000, while changes to income tax will take €2,300 from the income of a singleincome family on €55,000.
Workers will enter the tax net at a much lower level of income, and will pay tax at the higher 41pc rate on more of their income. They will also get lower tax credits. The minimum wage will be cut by €1 to €7.65.
The full details of the tax increases and welfare cuts will be outlined in Budget 2011 in a fortnight.
Finance Minister Brian Lenihan claimed the plan must form the basis of any “sensible proposals” for the next election. But Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said the plan could be renegotiated with the European Commission.
Despite the publication of the plan, the Government’s cost of borrowing on the international markets soared to 8.8pc.
Irish Independent
