The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has said today that Budget 2015 failed the required tests on job creation and fairness as the main winners were high earners and major corporations.
"While some measures are welcome - increased investment in social housing, the partial restoration of the Christmas Bonus, the increase in Child Benefit - the fact remains that the tax changes are regressive and skewed hugely to the top end of the scale," said Congress General Secretary David Begg.
"For example, someone on €70,000 gains four times as much from Budget 2015 as someone on the Minimum Wage. Overall, the combined impact of the changes in rates and bands amounts to a redistribution upwards.
"Indeed, once water charges are taken into account most people under €30,000 are net losers.
"In addition, the changes at the lower end of the scale with regard to the Universal Social Charge (USC) may well have the unintended consequence of trapping people in lower paid work and preventing them from taking up extra work.
"Congress views the action taken on water charges as a major missed opportunity as it has created a regime which is cumbersome, clunky and barely ameliorates the situation, especially for working families.
There are many low paid workers who will see no benefit from these changes," Mr Begg said.
"In relation to job creation, Congress was disappointed at the lack of ambition and failure to make the creation of decent paid work a focus of Budget 2015, as this is the only way to guarantee a genuine recovery. The real problem is that our level of investment is far too low.
'the retention of the 9% VAT rate for the restaurant and tourism sector will not make a major impact and the cost to the taxpayer of this measure is highly questionable, when set against the actual number of good, decent jobs created. Remember, the restaurant and catering sector also has a very poor record of compliance with labour law and standards," Mr Begg said.
ENDS
