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Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
Betting tax increase in budget could raise €53m while higher vehicle levies also examined in tax strategy papers
Boosting betting tax in the budget would raise up to an extra €53 million a year for the State, according to Department of Finance officials. The tax take from betting almost doubled to €95 million in 2019 from €52 million the previous year, after the Government increased the rate on all bets placed in the State to 2 per cent from 1 per cent. Increasing the rate by 1 per cent would add a further €53 million a year, while adding 0.5 per cent would yield another €26.5 million, the department's Tax Strategy Group (TSG) report states. Government would collect a further €800,000 if it increased the tax on the commission earned by betting exchanges, which allow customers to bet against each other, to 30 per cent from 25 per cent, the report added. READ MORE But it cautions that those estimates depend on 'the betting market continuing as normal in 2025 and 2026″ with neither bookies nor their customers changing their behaviour. [ Income tax dilemma for Government as VAT cuts could cost €1bn Opens in new window ] 'It is understood the burden of such additional tax increases would mainly impact large bookmaking firms,' it said. Along with the increase in 2019, the Government introduced relief of €50,000, meant to ease the burden on small independent operators, whose share of the market has shrunk rapidly in recent years. The report suggests increasing this relief to €65,000 should the Government decide to boost the tax rate. However, it adds that Revenue officials argue that this would benefit only a handful of businesses, while it would add to the challenge of getting EU state aid approval for such a move. The report notes that three big businesses dominate the market. Although it does not name them, they are Irish-based giant, Flutter Entertainment, mostly through its subsidiary Paddy Power , Boylesports and UK-based Ladbrokes. A Health Research Report found in 2022 that problem gambling had fallen over the previous eight years, but still hit more than 135,000 lives in the Republic. Revenue figures show that betting is growing, but moving increasingly online. In 2019, customers wagered €28.9 million in cash and €23.5 million digitally, including €1.8 million with betting exchanges. In 2023, digital's share was more than €55 million, of a €102.7 million total, while punters bet €46.6 million in cash. Separately, a 1 per cent increase in the higher rates of Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) is one of the budget options outlined by the TSG papers. It says that if applied across the upper VRT bands – 11 to 20 – covering the price of new and imported used cars, it 'would affect only cars with above-average emissions' and could raise €28 million based on 2024 registrations. The group also suggests increasing the NOx surcharge on new and imported cars by €5 per mg/km, potentially generating another €15.5 million. On Benefit-in-Kind tax (BIK), the paper proposes creating a new zero-emissions category, with rates ranging between 6 and 15 per cent, depending on annual business mileage. A higher VRT rate of 15 per cent is also suggested for vans and light commercial vehicles emitting more than 260g/km of CO2. This would sit above the recently introduced two-band emissions-based VRT system, where the top rate currently stands at 13.3 per cent for vehicles over 120g/km. The TSG notes that future reforms could include emissions-based BIK rates for vans, potentially retaining the current 8 per cent rate for low-emission models, with higher rates for those over a certain CO2 threshold. The latest TSG paper revises a proposal made last year on an additional VRT surcharge based on a vehicle's weight. Modelled on a system currently operated in France and Norway, an additional charge would be imposed on vehicles above a certain weight threshold, with various potential reliefs for the likes of fully-electric or hybrid models. The TSG states: 'It is well documented that the scale of the proposed electrification of the national fleet will entail significant revenue risk, with the growth in EVs expected to erode Exchequer receipts from motor tax, VRT, VAT and fuel excise, particularly if the current tax structures remain unchanged.' It estimates that revenue from taxes on fossil fuel use and related transport will fall by €1 billion by 2030, down from €5.3 billion in 2022.
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Call for suspects denied bail to be released from overcrowded prisons
The Irish prison system is overcrowded to the point that prisoners are not being afforded their 'basic human rights' and legislation is required to allow for the early release of more prisoners, the Irish Penal Reform Trust has said. The Irish Prison Service should, the trust argued, have the power to release remand prisoners who have been denied bail by the courts as part of an effort to ease overcrowding. Caron McCaffrey, director general of the service, has previously highlighted the growth in the remand prison population as a significant strain on an already overcrowded system. She noted that people on remand cannot be released by prison management as the courts have ruled they should remain in custody pending trial. READ MORE A report on the Irish prison system by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Degrading Treatment (CPT), published this week, strongly criticised the level of overcrowding across the Irish prison system . Since the committee's visits to Ireland, which concluded in May of last year, the prison population has increased by more than 10 per cent to 5,539 prisoners. Responding to the report, Niamh McCormack, the trust's legal policy and public affairs manager, said overcrowding was 'pervasive' across Irish prisons and 'negatively impacting all aspects of prison life and posing safety concerns for both prisoners and staff alike'. Ms McCormack noted that early or temporary release had been used by prison management to control prisoner numbers. However, she said to make way for newly committed prisoners, the power to release others must be expanded. 'Reducing the population in pre-trial detention and expanding the availability and encouraging greater use of community-based sanctions, where those are appropriate, is a clear way to do this safely and effectively. Legislation to address these key issues must be prioritised,' she said. The Council of Europe's report on the Irish prison system recommended that when a jail has reached capacity, no more prisoners should admitted. It also found there had been an increase in allegations of abuse of inmates by prison staff, including an incident which left a prisoner with 'significant disabilities'. The report described severe overcrowding in some prisons, with some inmates having a living area of just 2.8 sq m. When the committee members concluded their visits to Irish jails in May of last year, the prison population was 4,950, with 541 prisoners on temporary release. 944 prisoners in the system were on remand awaiting trial, up from 696 in the five years since its last inspection.
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Second tier child benefit could leave up to 100,000 worse off, tax strategy paper suggests
The introduction of a second tier, means-tested child benefit payment would involve the replacement of some existing supports and could lead to some lower-income households losing out financially, the Tax Strategy Group (TSG) papers suggest. According to TSG, based on some estimates, up to 100,000 children could end up being worse off. The TSG, which prepares a range of papers for the Government in advance of the budget being framed, paper on social protection notes that it has been suggested that to address deprivation experienced by children most effectively would require putting in place a second tier, means-tested, child benefit payment. However, t argues that public discourse on this suggestion does not generally recognise that it involves the replacement of the second tier of child payments that already exists in the form of the Child Support Payment (a means-tested payment to families in receipt of weekly social welfare payments) and the Working Family Payment (aweekly tax-free payment for employees on low pay with children). READ MORE 'Most recently the ESRI has proposed the replacement of these payments with a single second tier payment and modelled an option costing over €700 million annually over and above the existing payments,' the paper notes. 'In doing this, it acknowledges that its proposal is in outline form would require substantial work to refine and cost fully. 'It also acknowledges that some lower income households would lose income – with payments reducing in respect of approximately 100,000 children. This is a complex issue that would need to be fully understood before any new second tier payment is introduced.' The paper notes that the programme for government contained a commitment to developing a proposal for a Working Age Payment, which would be given to low-income households based on their pay levels rather than their employment status and involve a child-related element. 'Accordingly, any new second tier payment would have to be considered in the context of how it would interact with this payment – a consultation on which is due to issue later this year,' the paper added. The paper said that pending these developments, 'it remains clear that it is important to target welfare increases to the households with children where the risk of poverty is greatest and that such an approach favours investment in targeted rather than universal benefits'. The paper says that Child Support Payment (CSP), currently paid at €50 for children under 12 years and at €62 for children 12 years and over, is one such targeted measure. It estimates that a €1 increase in the payment for both age cohorts would cost about €15.45 million in a year. 'Annual increases in the Child Support Payment mitigate the risk of poverty for families with children. There was a proportionately larger increase in the rate in respect of children 12 years and over in Budget 2025. 'One advantage to adjusting the rate of the Child Support Payment rather than the personal rate is that it equally benefits lone parents and couples with children, without an adjustment to the personal rate of each scheme. 'Other targeted measures that would directly reduce child poverty, include increasing the weekly income thresholds for the Working Family Payment and increasing the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance. Households with children that receive other supplementary welfare supports such as Fuel Allowance would also benefit from increases in this payment. 'The support of the Public Employment Service delivered by the Department's Intreo Centres is also important in assisting parents, particularly lone parents in transitioning from welfare to employment and will have a material impact on the income levels of these households.' The paper also highlights that when one-off payments in recent budgets are excluded, increases in core social welfare payment rates between 2019 and 2025 lagged behind price inflation by between 2.5 to 5.5 per cent and lagged wage growth by between 9 and 13 per cent. 'Accordingly, as the use of 'one-off' payments is ceased, it will be important to ensure that other rate measures are effective in targeting the reduction in poverty among those most at risk of poverty,' it stated.
