This article refers to the Irish Budget from December 2009 – which set the Budget for 2010.
If you are looking for information about the December 2010 Irish Budget – which is setting the Budget for 2011 – see Budget 2011 ..…
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The date for the 2010 Budget has arrived at last – but just before Christmas it could dampen any Christmas cheer.
Some of the expected changes in the Budget today : (See here for updates on the Budget )
Spending Cuts – are likely to make up most of the estimated 4 Billion savings in the 2010 Budget proposals. With the “Bord Snip ” report as a starting point – there are plenty of choices. The most likely (and unpopular) cuts are Child Benefit , Public Sector Pay and Social Welfare spending.
Child Benefit could be cut by ten per cent with a compensation package for welfare recipients.
Most other benefits will be cut by about five per cent. (But not Old Age Pensions)
Unemployment benefit for under twenty threes will fall by twenty per cent
A prescription charge of fifty cent will be introduced for medical card holders.
A&E charges will rise
The threshold for the drug payment scheme will also rise.
Taxation
It is possible that taxation residency rules and some tax reliefs will come under review in the 2010 budget.
There is a strong possibility that the government will abolish the employee PRSI ceiling of €75,000 – but this is probably going to be done in stages – along with reductions in the income levies introduced in 2009.
Pensions : The new Programme for Government mentions plans to introduce a single 30 per cent tax relief on private pensions. This may well be done in one go in the 2010 budget.
Debt –The government is planning to will introduce new measures to protect home owners facing difficulties with mortgage repayments. A new statutory debt settlement system that operates outside the courts may be announced.
A new Carbon tax will probably be introduced in the budget, but the government has committed to protect those most at risk of ‘‘fuel poverty’’.
A Car Scrappage scheme is probably going to be announced – but only on the purchase of greener low carbon emission cars.