Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I welcome the fact that the Government appears to be making some movement on the income tax levy and is offering some response to the position that was put to it by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. However, I would like to know more about what it intends to do here. What will be the cost of the decision to now exempt earnings at or below the national minimum wage from the income levy? In the context of the budgetary arithmetic, where is it proposed that this will come from?

How will this work? Will incomes at or under the national minimum wage be exempt from the levy or will employees whose income is at or under the minimum wage be exempt? What is the position of somebody earning just over the national minimum, say, €1 weekly or €100 more per annum? Will he or she be liable for the levy on his or her entire income or on the portion of his or her income over the national minimum wage? What is the position of somebody on the national minimum wage who does a bit of overtime? Will he or she be liable for the levy on the full amount of the income or just on the portion of overtime he or she does? What is the position of somebody who has two part-time jobs, one on the national minimum wage and one above it? Will he or she pay the levy on the totality of his or her income or only on the job which is above the national minimum wage?

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