Wexford Chamber Pre Budget Submission 2015

 Wexford Chamber Pre Budget Submission 2015 

In preparing for Chambers Ireland  Pre Budget Submission, Wexford Chamber have made a number of suggestions.  Commenting on the Pre Budget Submission, Martin Doyle, President of Wexford Chamber said “our central message is that all measures introduced in the forthcoming budget must support employment and job creation.”

Specific areas of interest to Wexford is that Government continues to encourage entrepreneurship.  “Setting up and building a new business is an incredibly risky undertaking” said Martin.  He continued “We believe that with a capital gains tax rate of 33%, the risk taken by entrepreneurs is not being adequately rewarded.  CGT should be reduced to 20% to incentivise entrepreneurs to take risks and create jobs.  Improved support for entrepreneurs will create jobs. “

With tourism so vital to the local economy, Wexford Chamber has lobbied hard to ensure that the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector is maintained.  “The tourism and hospitality sectors are labour intensive and employ significant numbers of unskilled or semi-skilled workers, a section of the labour force that has been hit hard by the collapse in the construction industry” said Martin.  “Maintaining the 9% VAT rate will help sustain and grow employment in these sectors.  Additionally, the economic returns from this employment are distributed throughout the country with every county and city having the chance to benefit” he concluded.

According to a recent report published by the Restaurant Association of Ireland, 692 new jobs in the Food, Tourism and Hospitality sectors have been created in Wexford since the reduced VAT rate of 9% was introduced in July 2011. To highlight the scale of job creation, the Report compares the number of direct new jobs to a major local employer, revealing that the 692 extra jobs created in Wexford is more than three times the number of employees also employed in Wexford in the Department of Environment, Heritage & Local Government in Wexford.  A full copy of the report can be viewed at http://keepvat9.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/14534-RAI-County-Report-Wexford.pdf

Another area of concern to Chambers across the country is the current rate of Employers’ PRSI for Class A employees earning less than €356 per week.  Currently at 8.5%, Chambers believe that this rate should revert to 4.25% which was temporarily put in place in 2011 – 2013.  This cost can prove a significant deterrent to businesses who may wish to take on new employees and it has a disproportionate effect on the retail and services sectors which is where we need to create employment in the small towns and rural areas of Ireland.

-ENDS-