Date : 08 Ekim  2013 Salı - 11:02, Category : BUSINESS

The major tax revenue raising measure in this year’s exercise is likely to be one we are all already starting to come to terms with – residential property tax.
Introduced earlier this year, the tax, which is levied on the value of properties across the State, has already generated about €200 million. However, familiarity won’t ease the pain when the full year impact kicks in in January and it’s still likely to cause some pain. Apart from that, the perception is now that people can’t simply afford to give up any more income. There is just no bite left to take from the apple.
Grant Thornton has done the sums and estimates that the average family has already lost €300 a month over the austerity budgets of the past five years. A considerable sum, it is due mostly to the introduction of new taxes, like the universal social charge and local property tax, alongside the reduction in child benefit.
And the cuts have been hitting lower income workers harder. For example, a one-parent family earning €40,000 has seen its tax bill increase by 125 per cent since 2008, corresponding to a €300 a month decline in income. If the couple was both earning this sum, and had two children and a house valued at €200,000, the tax bill would have risen only by 54 per cent.
And, a top-earning family, with a combined income of €190,000, has only seen a 29 per cent increase in their tax bill.