MORE than half of all Northern Irish households suffered losses in their weekly income as a result of the 1995 budget and did less well than the United Kingdom as a whole, according to the Northern Ireland Economic Council.
In a report released today on the background and implications of the budget for Northern Ireland, the authors state that over 50 per cent of Northern Irish households suffered "marginal losses" in their weekly income.
The average household weekly gain in Northern Ireland is 90p per week compared with £2.11 in Britain. The richest 10 per cent of Northern Irish households will gain approximately £5.09 a week, compared to £7.29 in the rest of the UK.
"Given that the changes announced in the budget tend to favour high earners and the level of house hold income is, on average, lower in Northern Ireland than in Britain, it is not altogether surprising that Northern Irish households benefit less from the tax and benefit changes," the authors said.
Overall, the council feels that the net effect of the expenditure and tax changes on local economic activity in 1996-97 is likely to be slightly expansionist. This is because the revenue foregone as a result of the tax cuts more than offsets the small real decline in public spending.
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