Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 6, to delete lines 21 and 22 and substitute the following:“(a) in paragraph (a), by substituting “€1,100” for “€550”, and

(b) in paragraph (b), by substituting “€1,100” for €550”.”.

We dealt with this matter on Committee Stage. The Government is moving in the right direction in terms of equalisation between PAYE and the self-employed tax credits. It went one third of the way in addressing the issue last year in introducing a tax credit of €550 for the self-employed. It was clear that this would happen in a three-year period. In our alternative budget we argued that the second phase should take place this year, which would have meant that the tax credit would have been increased to €1,100. Unfortunately, the Government has not gone that far and has instead increased the figure to €950. Therefore, the amendment proposes to provide for the entire second stage instalment in the three-stage approach to ensure equalisation for the self-employed and PAYE workers.

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