Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 11, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following:

2.—The Minister shall within six months from the passing of this Act prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report detailing the financial impact of all measures contained in this Act on the general population by income group broken down by decile including all categories of earners including PAYE, self-employed and social welfare recipients and by household income type broken down by decile based on gross household income.".

The Economic and Social Research Institute produced a study on the distributional impact of this budget on all income groups. The report published on 24 February makes for very sobering reading. The conclusion stated that budget 2012 involved greater proportionate losses for those on low incomes, reductions of about 2% to 2.5% for those on the lowest incomes as against losses of about 0.75% for those on the highest incomes. Indeed, the report compared the impact of the budget on low income households with that of the previous Government's from 2008 and also concluded that the budget was more regressive.

Given the fact that this budget will have a disproportionate impact on lower income groups, in particular the additional charges and taxes, including the VAT increase, the purpose of this amendment is to provide for a detailed impact assessment of these measures on all income groups so that we get a full picture of the extent to which the Minister is seeking to punish low and middle income groups while regarding the better off in society.

See this speech in context