Group calls on Government to 'poverty-proof' next Budget
An independent think-tank has today urging the Government to show evidence that it has 'poverty proofed' next month's Budget.
Think tank for Action on Social Change (TASC) has claimed that Budget 2011 was unfair, as it hit single-parent households more than anyone else.
Sinéad Pentony, head of policy at TASC, said that an equality and gender audit of budget 2012 must happen.
"What our evidence shows us is that the groups that could least afford to pay had their incomes cut the most," she said.
"When the Government makes statements around poverty-proofing, as far as we know that’s not supported by any evidence, in terms of how they’ve done that, so I think it’s useful to know what they’ve used to inform those statements."
TASC's report on the impact of last year’s Budget that lone parents lost 5% of their income, compared with married couples with children who lost just 1.3%.
The group called for the Government to ensure vulnerable people, such as single mothers and fathers who were found to be the country’s lowest earners, are protected in the new Budget.
Ms Pentony said: “Inequality played a central role in causing the global crisis, and closing the equality gap – in the first instance by protecting those on low incomes – will not only enhance the wellbeing of individuals, but will also help boost demand in the economy.”
Single men with no dependants earning between €15,070 and €19,059 also fared badly as a result of last year’s Budget, losing 4.25% of their annual income.
The report claimed much of this was down to the lowering of the personal and PAYE tax credits and the introduction of the 7% Universal Service Charge rate on annual earnings above €16,500.
Nat O’Connor, director of the think-tank, said an equality audit should be carried out as part of the budgetary process in order to do this.
“Our findings show that low income groups lost proportionately more than higher income groups as a result of the tax and social welfare measures in Budget 2011, and that lone parents were particularly hard hit,” she said.
Among that group, which is most at risk of poverty, 73% were women and 27% were men.
Ms O’Connor added: “It is crucial that a comprehensive distributional analysis be carried out by the Department of Finance in advance of every Budget to ensure that vulnerable groups are not the losers as a result of budgetary measures.”
Budget 2012 will be announced on December 6.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan revealed in the Government’s medium-term fiscal statement that an adjustment of €3.8bn would be made in order to meet targets for the country’s deficit.
This would include €2.2bn saved through public expenditure cuts and €1.6bn on tax hikes, such as VAT and excise duties.
Tasc said the Government runs the risk of putting single parent households at risk of poverty if it imposes cuts to essential public services because they are least able to absorb the burden of adjustment.
The 7,207 households sampled in the report included singles, lone parents, married couples with just one earner and married couples with two incomes.
