2 weeks Ago By Jack Quann
Work is being done to finalise Budget 2025 ahead of its delivery next week. The Government's White Paper Estimates of Receipts and Expenditure suggests the Government will have a surplus of around €25bn for this year. Finance Minister Jack Chambers will present his budget to the Dáil on Tuesday - including a bumper tax package of over €1.
4bn. Daily Mail Executive Editor John Lee told The Anton Savage Show Ireland is in a unique position. "We're at a point now - I was discussing this with a Cabinet Minister last night - where we're at almost Norwegian oil levels with the amount of money we've got to give away in Ireland.
"It is an extraordinary change in fortune. "The budget itself will have about €1.4bn in tax giveaways and you've got about €1.
8bn in costs [and] spending increases." Mr Lee said there are other factors to think about next week. "Next week will also see the announcement of €3bn additional monies to be spent from AIB shares - that's outside the parameters of the budget," he said.
"There's about €2.5bn in cost of living measures which are outside the budgetary process as well - that's extra one-off money. "It's an extraordinary amount they have on top of everything else.
" Mr Lee said he believes the Government is moving towards an imminent election. "I'd say it could be within a week, maybe just after or before Simon Harris goes the United States, and there's €14bn of Apple money to give away as well," he said. "The stars, one would think, are aligning for the Government in an extraordinary fashion before a general election.
"Those stars are not aligning for the deprived sections of our society. "Whether we'll see monies [that] can go there to assist them in the long term..
. they will do their best I think also on social welfare." Mr Lee said while there are few countries in Ireland's position we also need to cautious.
"Just like Norwegian oil or Saudi oil...
there's a potential end to the monies we raise right from primarily from US companies." The Home Show host Sinead Ryan has a look at what people can expect on Tuesday. "The lump sums that are going in [is an] energy credit of €250, Children's Allowance there's going to be a double payment this side of Christmas," she said.
"In terms of pensioners, those on disability and carer payments, there's some arguing over the numbers. "It'll be somewhere between a €12 and €15 per week increase - interestingly, not for Job Seekers. "We're in a country of full employment - fewer than 4% of the population have no jobs - that's essentially people who can't work or people who can't be arsed working.
"[In] public transport hopefully the 20% reduction [of fares] will continue - that has been massively popular." On the prospect of introducing free public transport, Sinead said such a scheme has a negative side. "The problem is then you have so many people using it that you don't have capacity, and then people whinge because they can't get a seat, they can't get a train, they can't get a bus," she said.
"So I think charging something for is useful." She added that Universal Social Charge "is on a set path, a downwards trajectory" while the Rent Tax Credit will "probably" increase from €750 to €1,000..
