Budget day discussion thread. Your budget chat goes here.(Rules and links first post)

Social protection adjustments
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State can not afford current level of social provision.
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No reductions in the state pension.
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Additional payment of €40 to households that receive the fuel allowance payment.
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Working-age rates down 4%, but still 117% above levels in 1997 and slightly ahead of rates in 2007.
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Child benefit down €10 with an additional €10 reduction for a third child only.

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Taxation

A fundamental principle of the Budget is that all taxpayers must contribute according to their means. Those who can pay most will pay most but no group can be sheltered.
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Replace Income Levy and Health Levy with a single Universal Social Charge.
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Remove employee PRSI contribution ceiling.
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Increase the PRSI rate for the self-employed, higher earning public servants and office holders.
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Reduce the value of bands and credits by 10%.
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Tackle over-generous reliefs on private pensions.
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Abolish or restrict many tax reliefs that higher earners use to shelter income unfairly.
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Target the remaining reliefs more clearly on employment growth.
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DIRT up 2% to 27% on ordinary deposit accounts and 30% on longer-term deposit accounts.
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Excise up by 4 cent per litre on petrol and 2 cent per litre on auto-diesel.

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Supporting businesses, economic activity and jobs
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No change to Ireland’s corporation tax rate.
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Employment and Investment Incentive to boost job creation by SMEs.
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Extend the 3-year corporation tax exemption for start-up companies.
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Extend the accelerated Capital Allowance Scheme for Energy Efficient Equipment for a further three years.
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Fundamental reform of Stamp Duty on homes to stimulate the property market:
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A flat 1% rate for all transactions of residential property valued up to €1 million with 2% applying to amounts above €1 million.
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Abolishing all existing reliefs and exemptions for Stamp Duty on residential property.
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New tax incentive to support employment and improve energy efficiency in homes.
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Reduction in the air travel tax to €3 from March 2011 to boost tourism.
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All bookmakers taking bets from Ireland will pay 1% betting duty on those bets in the same way that betting shops currently do.

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Fairness of actions taken by Government

The distributive impact of the four Budgets (2009 to 2011) using the SWITCH tax/benefit model is as follows:
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The average income loss for families of the combined tax/social welfare package is almost 7% (€43pw).
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The greatest percentage losses are in the top 70% of the income distribution (i.e. higher earners) progressively rising from 3 to 11% (€16 to €160pw).
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Lower earners (i.e. the 2nd and 3rd income deciles) are largely unchanged under the four Budgets.
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The lowest earners (i.e. bottom income decile) lose 5% primarily due to the reduction in welfare payments from under 25s.

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http://budget.gov.ie/budgets/2011/Documents/Budget%202011%20Leaflet.pdf