Budget 2020 announcement day will be October 8th 2019.
Budget 2020 – is generally expected to be positive again – with possible tax cuts and/or spending increases totalling about €700 million.
There will be a ratio of 2:1 in favour of increased spending, meaning €233 million for tax reductions and €466 million on extra spending.
The Minister for Finance said in September Budget 2020 will be formulated on the basis of a disorderly Brexit . The budgetary package of €2.8 billion; €2.1 billion already pre-committed to expenditure measures as set out in the Summer Economic Statement and the balance of €0.7 billion for further allocation, will still apply.
Social Welfare and
It is expected there will be some increases to social welfare and State Pensions – but it might not be as simple as a €5 flat-rate increase for everyone. Any increases may be more targeted to those in need.
The Christmas Bonus cannot be fully guaranteed yet – but we expect it will be paid out again at 100% in 2019 – the same as last year.
Taxes
Further USC changes are expected – as it is gradually phased out. One option is to increase the threshold at which the 2% rate is applied.
It is also expected that there could be small increases to Income tax thresholds. This will be in line with an expected increase to the minimum wage – to prevent any rise being affected by tax.
An increase to the Earned Income Credit for self employed workers is also due – as it moves towards the target of €1650 to match the PAYE credit.
The Government is also expected to raise the current rate of
The Help to Buy Initiative is due to end in December 2019 – so we might get an extension of that in Budget 2020
Alcohol – there has been no increase in duty on alcohol since 2014. So maybe Budget 2020 will see alcohol duty raised?
An increase of 5c on a pint of beer and a measure of spirits would bring in €59 million a year.
A similar increase on
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The small increase given to pensions in 2019 Just pushed us above the tax exemption threshold of €36000. So the state clawed back 40% of the increase at marginal relief rates. The minister described it as an unintended consequence. The exemption threshold needs to be moved in line with any pension increase to provide the advertised benefit otherwise it might be construed as false advertising.