Social welfare cuts and carbon tax not ruled out

CUTS in social welfare and a new carbon tax could not be ruled out of the emergency budget, but corporation tax and the minimum wage would not be touched, Tánaiste and Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Mary Coughlan has said.

“Everything is in the mix. We cannot exempt anything,” she said when asked about the possibility of social welfare cuts and a carbon tax.

Reducing the minimum wage was not an issue and there was no suggestion that the Government would change the corporation tax rate of 12.5%, one of the lowest in the EU, the Tánaiste said.