Budget Must Reduce Tax Burden And Support Enterprise – Eddie Punch

Independent Ireland Clare General Election candidate Eddie Punch has called for a budget demonstrating commitment and support for farmers and small and medium enterprises recognising that people need to keep more of their own hard-earned money.

“The budget must tackle wasteful expenditure. It is incredible that total government expenditure for 2025 is projected to be €105 billion, up from €67 billion in 2019. The tax take is now too high on the coping classes – people who get up early, work hard and pay for everything. These are also the people who are now struggling with the cost of living crises, mortgage and rent affordability and child care.”

“I believe that childcare should be an allowable expense against income tax. I believe that income taxes need to be reduced for ordinary people working in low to middle income jobs. People such as Gardai, nurses, construction workers, factory workers.

“That’s why I believe there should be a minimum 1% reduction in all USC rates, a substantial increase in the PAYE cut-off rate the income level that brings you from 20% to 40% PAYE and Independent Ireland policy is income tax should be at the lower level of 20% on incomes up to €50,000.”

“I want to see the VAT rate reduced for the hospitality sector because the loss of pubs, restaurants and cafes is a real threat to our tourism industry and to the social life of our towns and villages.”

“The 5% concrete levy, which was a knee-jerk reaction to the mica crisis should be abolished as it achieves nothing other than add to the cost of housing and we still see little progress on solving the mica crisis for affected house-owners. There is adequate tax receipts from conventional taxes to solve the problem – what is lacking is political will to fix the problem and pursue the companies that sold defective products.”

He also object strongly to the relentless increases in carbon taxes. When Clare people don’t have a LUAS on their doorstep, he says it not a carbon tax; it is just tax. The Government has repeatedly hiked carbon tax yet “parents in Cratloe, Sixmilebridge and Newmarket exhausted trying to secure a fit for purpose school bus transport service”.

He called for an increase in the suckler cow payment to €300 per cow; increase sheep payment to €30/ewe, additional funding to make sure TB infected herds are compensated in full and on-time and additional resources to implement a wildlife programme, a new support programme to compensate farmers who lost the Burren scheme and for whom the ACRES scheme has been a disaster and extension of stock relief for another three-year period.

Under Capital Acquisitions Tax, he wants to see substantial increases in the Category A, B & C thresholds. The thresholds has been significantly eroded by inflation. The Category A threshold is frozen at €335,000 since 2019, and categories B and C since 2016. Failure to adjust the thresholds is actually a tax increase in real terms.

The reality is that carbon tax on agricultural diesel is really a tax on food; and carbon tax on road haulage is adding to the cost of a roof over a person’s head, he concluded.

Dan Danaher