Leo Varadkar has rowed back on his idea to introduce a new lower 30% tax rate in the budget.
TheTánaiste’s tax change proposal was met with lukewarm enthusiasm from some Cabinet colleagues, including finance minister and fellow Fine Gael minister, Paschal Donohoe, who said it would be “difficult” to implement at short notice. It’s understood that Fianna Fáil ministers were not too happy with the tax code change that would benefit the wealthier in society more than the poorer.
And now Mr Varadkar is pulling back from his plan in the face of the difficult task he would face pushing the tax plan through, saying now that it is only an “option” and admitting that it has not even been discussed at Cabinet. The Tánaiste said: “It’s just an option, it’s only ever been an option, an option that can be considered by the government between now and budget day.
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“It hasn’t been considered by government yet and we’ve had no substantive discussions about it at this stage. So it’s just an option, it will be discussed, yes, all options will be discussed, but that’s not the same thing as saying that all options are likely to happen.
“When it comes to the budget, whether it’s on the tax side, the social welfare side, the spending side, there’s a list of options longer than my arm and yours put together and what will happen is that before budget day they’ll all be discussed.” There have been many promises ahead of the budget which takes place on September 27.
It led Minister Heather Humphreys to say yesterday that you would need to be “an octopus” to keep up with all the kites being flown by government ministers. She said: “I’d want to be an octopus to hold down all the kites that are being flown about the budget at the minute.”
Some of the kites being flown this week, which may or may not actually be in the budget, include a doubling of the €35 week household benefits scheme, increasing the children’s allowance and a cost of living bonus of a double welfare payment before Halloween. This would be followed by another Christmas double payment in the weeks before Christmas.
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