Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2023
268. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the total amount of the public sector pay bill which is recouped directly through income tax and USC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54591/23]
View answer269. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if a one percent pay increase was introduced across the public sector, what would be the estimated cost; what percentage of that amount would be recouped directly through income tax and USC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54592/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 268 and 269 together.
Budget 2024 set out a gross Exchequer pay bill of €24.8 billion for 2024, which is approximately one third of Gross Current Expenditure.
The total public service pay bill, including Local Authorities is estimated to be €26.8 billion in 2024. Based on this, the estimated cost of a 1% increase in the public service pay bill is approximately €268m.
With regard to the percentage amount that would be recouped directly through taxation, each employee's tax, PRSI and USC treatment is an individual matter. Tax policy is a matter for the Minister for Finance.
Budget 2024 documentation which is available at www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/budget/ includes detailed distributional analysis of the tax measures announced in the Budget. The distributional analysis incorporates tables demonstrating the impact of the Budget changes in respect of income tax, PRSI and USC on various household types, including public servants, single persons, married couples with and without children.
