Taxing child benefit ‘not possible by budget’

It will not be possible to tax or means test child benefit payments in time for the next budget, Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has insisted.

The minister has floated the possibility of taxing child benefit for those earning more than €100,000 a year, but admits such a move could not be organised in the near future.

“Obviously, that would require having the capacity to join up the information technology of the Department of Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners, and that would require a fair amount of work,” she said.