With the return of the Dáil this week the annual sabre rattling over this year’s budget beings in earnest. But over the summer, some battle lines were drawn and there is already a vague shape to what will be announced in yet another austerity laden budget. So to drag everyone down on a Monday morning, I’ve released a preliminary calculator for Budget 2013
Joan Burton has been making noises all summer about changing (read: increasing) employee and employer PRSI rates. An increase from the current rate of 4% to 5% would result in an extra €293.96 on the tax bill of someone on the average industrial wage.
Another proposal from the Minister is that a parent earning over €100,000 would have their child benefit taxed. At that level of earnings though it makes minimal difference with just €688.80 a year for a single child clawed back. Given that successive governments have failed to implement this it may not be worth while for the return.
Another big change in the budget is the full implementation of the property tax. The rate has yet to be announced, but 0.5% of the property’s value has been mooted by the IMF. You can be hopelessly optimistic and set the rate at a low of 0.05% (paying €50 per €100K of value) to an eye-watering high of 1% (paying €1,000 per €100K).
As more rumours surface, the inevitable misery will be added to the calculator (just in case there was any spark of hope forming).
[A version of this post also appeared on Broadsheet.ie]