Cantillon: USC cuts no relief to higher earners

It isn’t fashionable to be a higher-income employee in Ireland. All the parties have found ways to claw back some or all of the benefits of USC and tax cuts from higher earners or, in the case of Sinn Féin, to propose that higher earners pay significantly more.

Around €70,000 to €80,000 per year appears to be the mark where most of the parties judge that they should start to limit the gains. Fine Gael says its plan to abolish the USC would leave everyone better off, but it will start to limit the gains by phasing out the €1,650 employee tax credit for earnings over €70,000 – clawing back €55 a year for every €1,000 earned above this level. For those earning €100,000, the abolition of the 8 per cent USC charge will be partly offset by this tax credit change, as well as by a new 5 per cent charge on income above this level.

Fianna Fáil don’t have the same level of complication as they only propose to abolish the USC on the first €80,000 of income. As USC will still be charged on earnings above this amount, the gains would in effect be capped.

Labour goes a step further, saying it would abolish USC on earnings up to €72,000. This means USC will continue to apply on higher earnings, and Labour also proposes to adjust tax credits to hit the higher earners. So under its plan those earning €120,000 or more have no change in take-home pay.

Sinn Féin’s tax plan takes a different route. It calls for the abolition of the USC on incomes up to €19,572, arguing that gains to households will come via abolishing water charges and the local property tax. However, in additional to existing charges it wants to add a new 7 per cent levy on individual (as opposed to joint) incomes over €100,000.

Fine Gael’s plan does reduce the marginal rate, though even it is aimed more at the squeezed middle than at high rollers. Elsewhere there is little for the higher earners in terms of tax relief. Calls from the business lobby that we need lower taxes to attract top talent have, it appears, only got limited traction.