Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has dismissed any suggestion that Tuesday’s budget will be an election budget, despite the fact it will contain cuts in USC and in income tax for middle-income earners. Mr Varadkar pointed out that Budget 2019 would be the first balanced budget in a decade, with revenue equalling expenditure. “If it were an election budget we would probably be running a massive deficit, which we don’t do,” he said. Mr Varadkar was speaking to reporters in advance of the Fine Gael presidential dinner in Dublin on Saturday night. He confirmed that there would be cuts in the USC and in income tax, and he also said the social welfare and pension package would reverse the cuts made in those areas over the past decade.

Source: The Irish Times October 07, 2018 10:30 UTC