Noonan: We will widen tax bands to help job creation

The Government’s plans to reduce the tax take from higher earners will depend on how much the State gets in taxation this year, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said.

He denied that reducing income tax was a re-election ploy, adding the Government had “reasonable expectations of being re-elected”. He said as long as Fine Gael remains in power the changes demanded by the troika will continue, but said tax cuts were a method of creating jobs.

The higher rate of 41% income tax kicks in when wages reach €32,800.