Plan to hike up PRSI for self employed

A Government-sponsored report into social welfare insurance for the self-employed is expected to recommend a hike in PRSI payments in return for welfare protection for long-term injuries or sickness.

Today, the third report of the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare, set up by Social Protection Minister Joan Burton, will recommend a PRSI increase from 4% to 5.5% for the country’s 300,000 self-employed workers.

If the Labour minister seeks to implement the tax hike, it will set her on a collision course with her Fine Gael coalition partners, who are strongly opposed to any income tax increases which they believe are “anti-jobs”.