Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 November 2023
41. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Finance the number of taxpayers in County Kildare who stand to benefit from the USC reduction as provided for in budget 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52632/23]
View answerAs part of Budget 2024, I introduced a personal income tax package to the value of €1.3 billion in 2024 and €1.5 billion in a full year.
The budget tax package is built around 3 key pillars: changes to tax credits, the standard rate band and USC, and the Government has sought to use each of these levers to spread the benefit of the available package as effectively as possible.
With regard to income tax, the main tax credits (personal, employee and earned income) will be increased by €100 to €1,875 and the standard rate band will be increased by €2,000 to €42,000 for single persons with commensurate increases for married couples and civil partners.
As the Budget focussed on tackling child poverty, it also increased the home carer tax credit by €100 to €1,800, the single person child carer credit by €100 to €1,750 and the incapacitated child carer tax credit by €200 to €3,500.
Additionally Budget 2024 contained the largest USC package since 2016 with a cost of €350 million in 2024. The 4.5% rate of USC was decreased by 0.5% to 4.0% and the ceiling for the 2% rate of USC was increased by €2,840 from €22,920 to €25,760. The increase in the 2% ceiling will ensure that with the increase in the National Minimum Wage from €11.30 to €12.70 per hour, a full time worker earning the minimum wage will remain outside the higher rates of USC. Furthermore, the reduced rate of USC concession for full medical card holders was extended for a further two years until the end of 2025.
To answer the Deputy’s specific question, I am advised by Revenue that a total of 1.6 million taxpayer units will benefit from the USC measures announced in Budget 2024. A taxpayer unit counts jointly assessed couples as one unit. However, I am further advised by Revenue that this estimate is provided using Revenue’s micro-simulation income tax model, Tax Modeller, and while this model uses taxpayer unit level data, estimates broken down by taxpayer location are not generated as part of the modelling process. Therefore, a county by county breakdown of the number of taxpayer units that will benefit from the USC measures announced in Budget 2024 is not available.
