Significant tax cuts over five budgets

Budget 2002 was the fifth and final budget of Mr McCreevy's current term of office as finance minister. On his watch, all taxpayers have seen significant reductions in their average tax rates - the proportion of their income taken by the Government in tax and PRSI.

"My five Budgets to date are the five chapters in my first book," he said as he concluded his Budget 2002 speech, adding that he looked forward to beginning his "second book" after summer 2002. If he was to be judged solely on his performance in reducing personal taxation, many taxpayers might just be prepared to let him write that second book.

In its Action Programme for the Millennium, the Government promised to deliver a 20 per cent standard tax rate and to reduce the top rate to 40 per cent. In Budget 2001, the Minister for Finance delivered that 20 per cent rate and brought the top rate of tax down to 42 per cent. But against the background of deteriorating Government finances the promise of a 40 per cent top rate was jettisoned in Budget 2002 in favour of removing lower income earners from the tax net and reducing the number of taxpayers in the higher tax bracket.

The personal tax changes in Budget 2002 were fairly modest compared with some of Mr McCreevy's earlier budgets. Most personal tax credits were increased by just under 9 per cent, while the PAYE tax credit was increased by 30 per cent. The standard rate income band was increased by 10.3 per cent for single people and dual income couples and by just 0.5 per cent for single income couples. An increase in the PRSI ceiling will affect employees earning more than €35,870 (£28,250).

An examination of Mr McCreevy's five budgets shows the overall extent of the tax cuts delivered to individual categories of taxpayers (see tables below). The total tax and PRSI bill of a single PAYE worker on the average industrial wage will have fallen from 27.9 per cent for 1997/98 to 16.5 per cent in 2002, a reduction of 11.4 percentage points. This worker would have paid almost 28 cents per euro of income in income tax and PRSI (if there was a euro then) or 28p per pound of income in 1997/98 and 17.2p per pound of income in 2001. In 2002 he/she will pay 16.5 cents per euro of income.

For a single income married couple earning the average industrial wage, tax and PRSI took 20.4 per cent of their income in 1997/98. In 2002, the tax take will fall to 7.6 per cent, a reduction of some 12.8 percentage points. Their tax and PRSI bill will have fallen over the five budgets from just over 20 cents to just under eight cents per euro of income.

Workers on higher incomes have done well too. Some 43.9 per cent or 43.9 cents per euro of the income of a single PAYE worker on just over three times the average industrial wage was taken away in income tax and PRSI deductions in 1997/98. By 2002, the tax take will have fallen to 35.7 per cent or just under 36 cents per euro of income. The reduction is a less dramatic 8.2 percentage points.

A single income married couple on just over three times the average industrial wage does not fare as well proportionately. Their tax and PRSI bill will have fallen from 36.3 per cent of income in 1997/98 to 30.6 per cent in 2002, a reduction of 5.7 percentage points. Tax and PRSI deductions have fallen from 36.3 cents per euro of their income to 30.6 cents per euro.

But a married couple where both spouses are working, earning between them just over three times the average industrial wage, will see their tax and PRSI deductions fall from 37.1 per cent of total income in 1997/98 to 27.1 per cent in 2002, a reduction of 10 percentage points. The most significant improvement for this couple came since individualisation was introduced in Budget 2000 as the table shows.

Other major moves by Mr McCreevy over his tenure have include the narrowing of the personal tax base, a move from tax allowances to tax credits, a change to tax relief at source for medical insurance premiums and mortgage interest, the introduction of the controversial measures to individualise the standard rate income band and the alignment of the tax year with the calendar year, which comes into effect in 2002.

Through the narrowing of the tax base some 37 per cent of the workforce will be outside the tax net by next January. A single taxpayer will not pay tax until his/her income exceeds €209.60 (£165) per week. But Mr McCreevy has not managed to achieve his target of removing all workers earning below the minimum wage from the tax net.

The move to tax credits has made the tax system fairer by ensuring the cash value of personal allowances is the same for all taxpayers regardless of their income levels. Tax relief at source for mortgage interest and medical insurance premiums will benefit everyone, even people who fall outside the tax net altogether.

Individualisation was possibly his most controversial move. He has not managed to complete the planned three-year changeover and political pressure to appease aggrieved single income couples has left the tax system more complicated than before.

So, who has benefited most from the McCreevy years? Lower and middle income earners have benefited most in proportionate terms from the last five Budgets. Middle income married couples, where each earns enough income to get full benefit from standard rate band changes, have benefited disproportionately from individualisation. But middle income families with one earner, who have done relatively less well, will not be big fans of Mr McCreevy.

Mary O'Hara is senior manager, Global HR Solutions Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers. More information is available from www.pwcglobal.com.ie