Budget 2027: Workers to get 'a few hundred euro' from 'modest' €1.5bn tax package
Public expenditure minister Jack Chambers speaking to the media at Fianna Fáil's think-in at Tullamore Court Hotel in Co Offaly. Picture: Niall Carson/PA
Workers will receive “a few hundred euro” from a modest tax package in October’s budget, the public expenditure minister has said.
Jack Chambers has said the Government plans to lighten the tax burden in a “progressive and sustainable way”, as he says it will take multiple budgets before people see real improvement in their take-home pay.
“That’s the honest position that I’m giving in the context of the budget,” Mr Chambers said, speaking at the Fianna Fáil think-in event in Tullamore.
Asked if he was downplaying the upcoming tax package, Mr Chambers said he wanted to be “honest about what I believe it will achieve”.
“It'll be a modest income tax package when it amounts to €1.5bn total, and that is, I think, a signal to workers that over the next series of budgets we want to alleviate the tax burden,” Mr Chambers said.
“I'm very clear that it is modest, and the adjustments will amount to a few hundred euro, depending on your income.”
Mr Chambers said his biggest concerns were around the geopolitical situation, risks around corporation tax, and a higher level of inflation.
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“We obviously are running a surplus, but there is huge risk for Ireland as an open-trading economy that I’m really conscious of in the decisions I’m making on day-to-day spending and also on adjustments to taxation.”
Mr Chambers said the Government needs to make the case for “responsible management” of the economy.
It comes as Taoiseach Micheál Martin put the removal of stamp duty for first-time buyers on the table, saying he has a “favourable disposition” towards the cut.
Mr Martin said there is still time for discussion on tax cuts ahead of Budget 2027, saying he supported proposals by Seamus McGrath to remove the tax for first-time buyers.
Asked if he meant the proposal was on the table, Mr Martin said: “I’m simply just giving my view, but obviously there’s lots of issues on the table.
“Not all of them make it over the line, but I think it’s a reasonable proposal by Deputy McGrath.”
Currently, stamp duty is charged at a rate of 1% of the property’s value up to €1m, before rising to 2% between €1m and €1.5m, while all properties over €1.5m are charged 6%.
Mr Martin said there had been a big difference made to first-time buyers through schemes such as Help to Buy and the First Home Scheme.
Tánaiste Simon Harris, however, had previously ruled out such a move, saying the last thing he wanted to do was “inject any uncertainty into the housing market”.
It comes as Mr Martin all but ruled out the return of one-off payments in the upcoming budget, saying they reduce the Government’s ability to deal “substantively” with issues.
The Taoiseach said he “cannot see the capacity within Government” to roll out universal energy credits in October’s budget.
Speaking at the Fianna Fáil think-in, Mr Martin said the Government opted to end one-off payments in 2025 “for a reason”.
“We wanted to focus public expenditure on more permanent measures, both in social protection and in areas like childcare,” Mr Martin said.
In particular, he said a cost-of-disability payment would be among the measures considered for October’s budget.
Meanwhile, children’s minister Norma Foley said she wanted to deliver a “significant cut” in childcare costs for parents.
“It is the line that I am pursuing with minister Jack Chambers that this must be a breakthrough budget in terms of early years and childcare costs for parents,” Ms Foley said.
The Government has agreed to reduce the cost of childcare to €200 per month per child, with ministers repeatedly saying this will be done throughout the lifetime of the coalition.
Ms Foley said she would be looking for the “maximum that we can secure here for the benefit of parents”.
- Tadgh McNally, Political Reporter
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