Budget 2024: Rent tax credit should double to €1,000, says Simon Harris

The rent tax credit introduced last year should be doubled from €500 to €1,000 in the upcoming budget, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said.

The Rent Tax Credit was introduced in Budget 2023 and is worth €500 per individual or €1,000 per jointly assessed couple. Those eligible include people paying for private rented accommodation or a parent who pays rent on behalf of a university-going child. It is estimated that over 400,000 renters are eligible for a rebate for the tax credit.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr Harris said he would “work with the Minister for Housing on a significant increase in the renter’s tax credit”.

“I would echo the calls of the Minister for Housing that he’d like to see an increase in the rent tax credit. I’d ideally like to see it doubled if possible,” he said.

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“I think we need to see two further tweaks. Firstly, it needs to be increased. €500 is welcome but rent is expensive in this country,” he said.

“The second thing is: at the moment students or their parents can avail of tax credit if you live in college campus accommodation, but only the student can avail of the tax credit if they’re in digs. And for some students their income may not be enough to benefit from the tax credit. So I’d like to see that changed to be students and parents as well.”

Mr Harris was speaking after the publication of an ESRI report on student mobility on Monday that found adapting third-level entry requirements to make them more attainable for school leavers from Northern Ireland could increase numbers and be of “important symbolic value”.

Mr Harris welcomed the report and said there had been “what people might characterise as a brain drain on the island of Ireland” with many young people leaving to work abroad.

Asked whether the “elephant in the room” was the issue of housing and accommodation for students and young people, Mr Harris said: “Accommodation is a real cost, but the report finds that issues around how A-levels are categorised to be a much bigger barrier to student mobility.

“Of course, sometimes students from Ireland do go abroad to study ... student accommodation is a real challenge. And that’s why we’ve now received over €60 million of Government funding to start building purpose-built student accommodation,” he said.

Mr Harris told reporters he would like to see more money allocated to building student accommodation across the State.

“We need to see a very significant uplift in the amount of money we’re spending on student accommodation. I expect that will be the case though,” he said.

“There’s been a real appetite and willingness to fund projects, and we’ll very shortly be at a point that any project that has planning permission, we will have provided funding for it. I haven’t met anything but support in Government on that”.