Kenneth Fox
Income tax thresholds will be changed as part of the Budget to help lower and middle-income workers, the Minister for Public Expenditure has confirmed.
As the Irish Examiner reports, Michael McGrath has said that keeping the current tax bands in place would amount to an effective cut in wages for workers.
"We are going to make an intervention in the Autumn in the normal annual budget," he said adding that "work is actively underway" on preparing a range of measures.
Mr McGrath said the Summer Economic Statement, due to be published next week, will provide greater clarity on the total amount of money the Government will have to play around with for spending and tax changes.
He said that as well as a cost of living package, it is "important" that Budget 2023 includes a tax package.
Mr McGrath warned that the Government does not want to have a situation where people with modest incomes who receive a pay rise end up giving away half of it on tax because they creep into the higher rate of tax.
"If you have a static tax system at a time of rising incomes, that is equivalent to an increase in tax."
Hitting out at the opposition, Mr McGrath said: "It seems to be only this side of the House that there is support for a reduction in income tax for people who are earning quite modest levels of income in the mid-30s in terms of thousands."
Mr McGrath said it should always "pay to work" and the majority of people who are able to work want to.
Responding to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald who called for an emergency budget, he said the Government has already made significant interventions to help ease the pressure on families.
"Not everyone, but certainly a share of the population at the moment, are really feeling the effects of what is a 40-year high level of inflation," he said, adding that the budget will contain a significant cost-of-living package."
