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Age Action believes that the Government must protect older people on low incomes when framing the proposed property tax.

The Minister for Finance Michael Noonan this week published the Finance Bill 2012 which gives effect to taxation measures announced in last December’s Budget.

Last week, Revenue posted letters to 150,000 people about their tax compliance, including those who are claiming widow’s and widower’s pensions. Over the weekend, there was much comment and criticism in the media about the way Revenue has handled the situation. Accepting Revenue has taken a scattergun approach to the potential non-payment of income tax by pensioners, it is important that people understand how a tax liability might arise and that they have the information to hand to ensure they are compliant in 2012.

IBEC, the group that represents Irish business, has stated that the Government has relied too heavily on increasing tax in Budget 2012, rather than reducing current expenditure. The group welcomed specific measures aimed at supporting R&D and financial services, attracting mobile talent and restoring normal activity to the property market, but said the scale of these positive measures was small when compared to the very negative effect of the €90 million increase in employer PRSI charges and the major reduction in the redundancy rebate, announced yesterday. The total cost of Budget 2012 to business will be in the region of €400 million.

Budget 2012 is unique in that the proposed expenditure cuts were announced a day ahead of the tax changes and also many of its provisions were well flagged ahead of Budget Day. The financial adjustment was set at €3.8bn with €2.2bn coming from expenditure cuts and €1.6bn coming from increased taxation. Despite all the advance leaks and speculation the Minister managed to keep a number of the changes secret until the Budget Speech especially in the area of incentives to business and measures to kick start the property market.

Over recent weeks, there has been much speculation on the provisions to be announced in Budget 2012. The anticipation was heightened by the “State of the Nation” address by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny on Sunday night. In an unprecedented move, Minister Howlin and Minister Noonan shared the burden and spread their respective speeches over two days. Some of the main features introduced in the 2012 Budget are set out below:

Now may be a good time to transfer assets and/or family owned businesses to the next generation and avail of the potential tax benefits arising from reduced property values and current tax reliefs.

Two Galway businessmen made tax settlements in the first quarter of this year, the latest list of tax defaulters published by the Revenue Commissioners reveal.

Budget 2011 is unique as the framework and some of the planned changes were detailed in the Four Year Plan which was published two weeks ago. The financial adjustment was set at €6b with €4b coming from expenditure cuts and €2b coming from increased taxation. The precise details of the tax changes had to remain until the Budget was published but given the size of the financial adjustment all sectors of society had much to fear when the Minister stood up in the Dail to introduce his budget.

Income Tax