BUDGET 2015 - How it impacts parents and families

Posted by Sally O'Brien, on 14/10/2014. BUDGET 2015 - How it impacts parents and families

Tags: Parenting

Here is a summary of Budget 2015 released today:

Water charges:

Income tax relief will be available at the Standard Rate in respect of water charges up to a max of €500 per household per year.

The Water Charges Relief will be worth up to €100 per household per annum.

653,000 households will see water bill reduced through special social protection measures

Jobs:

2015 will see a resumption of recruitment into the Civil Service.

Tax & USC

Increasing the entry point to the USC to just above €12,000 removing 80,000 low income workers from the charge altogether.

Reducing the top rate of Income Tax from 41% to 40%.

Example: A single-income €55,000 family, with two kids, will be €626 a year better off from child benefit and income tax changes.

VAT

20 cigarettes will increase by 40 cent ... a 25 gram pouch of roll-your-own tobacco will increase by a further 20 cent per 25 gram pack

Not raising taxes on alcohol. Not raising taxes on petrol or diesel. No raising of motor tax. No raising of the Vehicle Registration Tax.

Tax remain unchanged on wine.

Housing:

€2.2 billion three-year plan for social housing, to improve housing volumes. This is major development for Irish housing. This capital investment will deliver in the region of 6,000 additional housing units by 2017.

Social Welfare:

Child Benefit set to rise €5 a month. Increased by another 5 euro in 2016.

The Government has decided to allocate a portion of these savings to pay a 25% bonus to social welfare recipients this coming Christmas.

In 2015, over 2.1 million people - nearly half the population - will have a medical or GP visit card.

Education (for full outline on education in Budget 2015 click here)

Next year will see more than 1,700 additional new education full time posts. 920 mainstream teachers, 480 resource teachers and 365 SNAs.
no increases in class sizes. There will be no reduction in the numbers of teachers or SNAs.

DO you agree with Budget 2015? How does it effect you? Please leave a comment.