KILDARE SOUTH LABOUR NEWS
BUDGET SPECIAL October 2015
USC SLASHED Workers will see big gains from the Budget decision to significantly reduce the Universal Social Charge (USC). 700,000 low earners will be taken out of the USC entirely and middle income earners will benefit substantially. An employee on the average industrial wage will benefit by more than €400 per year, while someone with a yearly income of €55,000 will increase their take home pay by €677.
A married couple with three children and a joint income of €41,500 will benefit by €1,457 in net pay. A married couple, no children and joint income of €58,460 will benefit by €1,002 per annum. Employees on salaries of up to €70,000 will see a benefit of up to €902 and for people earning more than €70,000 the benefit will be capped. The increases in take home pay will commence from January 1st. The Universal Social Charge was introduced as an emergency tax by the last Fianna Fáil Government after the crash in 2010. The Labour/Fine Gael Government has gradually reduced it and Labour is now committed to phasing out the USC for low and middle income earners.
SELF-EMPLOYED TAX
HOMES
In the modern economy a growing proportion of the workforce is becoming selfemployed. For the first time, a Government has acknowledged this in the Budget. A special Tax Credit of €550 will now be allowed for self-employed. There is also a targeted reduction to a Capital Gains Tax rate of 20%.
NAMA is required by Government to deliver 20,000 residential units by 2020. 90% of these homes will be in the greater Dublin area. Next year NAMA will deliver 4,500 mainly starter homes. Altogether 17,600 people will have their housing needs addressed in 2016. The allocation to address the homeless issue has been increased to €70 million. 9,500 social housing units will be built by 2018, funded through direct investment and PPPs - 3,100 of these will be provided in 2016.
CHILDCARE From now children will be eligible for Free Childcare from 3 years of age until 5½ years or until they start primary school. A further €15 million has been allocated to facilitate the full participation of children with disabilities. A new 2 weeks Paternity Benefit will be launched from September 2016.
Jack Wall TD - Kildare South Budget Special
OPINION Nobody forecast when our economy collapsed in 2010 and Fianna Fáil handed over decision-making to an outside Troika that we would be able to bring in a positive Budget in 2015. Yet that is what Labour and Fine Gael have done after inheriting the worst crash since the State was founded. The improvements are modest enough. What is not modest is that there are 137,000 more people at work. The economy is very strong. The tax changes will from January 1st put an extra few bob in peoples’ pockets. People on very low incomes will be taken out of the USC net entirely. People on lower to middle incomes will get tangible relief. Some of the cuts in Social Welfare made during the crisis are being reversed. Almost 40% of the country’s budget goes on Social Welfare so that, during the crisis, some cuts in Social Welfare were unavoidable. That has now changed. There is every reason to be positive about the next five years. The more people at work, the fewer on Social Welfare. The USC will gradually be abolished for low and middle income earners over the lifetime of the next government. We still have an acute shortage of housing but the upside is many thousands of jobs in construction. The situation in our hospitals remains challenging but money alone is not the answer. If we can keep the economy on an even keel we can tackle these challenges with confidence. Labour is proud of its part in the turnaround. Protest politics is now three-a-penny but the protestors never come up with a workable solution. Labour stayed the course and, despite all the criticism, we have helped to bring the country from bankruptcy to survival and now to growth.
DID YOU KNOW...? That the Minimum Wage will be increased to €9.15 per hour from January 1st. A single worker on the minimum wage will see a €708 increase in annual income. And the Lansdowne Road Pay Agreement for Public Servants also commences from January 1st.
CARERS €1,700 The Government has reversed the cut in the Respite Care Grant which means that the new rate will be €1,700 for eligible Carers. As implied in the name, the grant is intended to enable 77,000 Carers to take a break from their very valuable work.
PENSIONS Senior Citizens will get an extra weekly increase of €3.00 in their Pension from January 1st as will Carers aged 66 and over. An extra €2.50 per week bringing the Fuel Allowance to €22.50 per week from January 1st for all long-term welfare recipients.
CHILD BENEFIT Child Benefit will be increased by €5.00 bringing the basic rate to €140 per child per month. The Family Income Supplement (FIS) income threshold to be increased by €5.00 for each of the first two children.
CHRISTMAS BONUS The Christmas Bonus this year, 2015, will be increased to 75%. For a single person this will bring the Christmas Bonus to €172.00 and for a couple to €330.00.
SPORTS GRANTS - KILDARE €1,666,217 Allocations in Kildare: Allenwood Celtic €7,518, Athy Lawn Tennis Club €135,851, Athy Rugby Football Club €59,500, Athy Sports Acrobatics Club €19,618, Ballymore Eustace GAA Club €68,082, Curragh Amateur Boxing Club €8,466, Grangenolvin GFC €145,000, Kilcullen Canoe Club €18,243, Kildare County Council €150,000, Kildare Town AFC €15,011, Ryston Sports & Social Club €50,000, St Kevins GAA Club €130,000, St Laurences National School €22,211.
SCHOOLS
Jack Wall TD
The Government will continue the Schools’ Building Programme. In 2016 the Minister has funding to employ 2,260 new teachers including 600 new Resource Teachers. This is in addition to the 610 Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) and 190 Resource Teachers already announced this year. The pupil teacher ratio is being reduced at primary level from 28 to 1 to 27 to 1 and, at second level, from 19 to 1 to 18.7 to 1.
Phone: 059 86 32874/33156 Fax: 059 86 33157 Email: info@kildaresouth.com
HOSPITALS Hospital staffing has increased by 3,000 since January 2014 Minister for Public Expenditure, Brendan Howlin T.D., has said and almost 1,000 of these are nurses. Subject to negotiations with the doctors, Free GP Care will now be extended to all children under 12. The Fair Deal Scheme is now on a fully funded basis which means that everyone who needs Fair Deal funding will be approved within 4 weeks.
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Working with your Local Labour Team
Cllr Mark Wall Phone 083 3341488 Email: markwall@eircom.net Facebook.com/mark.wall.1272 Twitter.com/@MarkWall1 www.labour.ie/markwall
Cllr Aoife Breslin 18 The Hollands, Athy Phone: 086 2797694 Email breslin.aoife@gmail.com Facebook: Aoife Breslin
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