Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has stated that this year's Budget will support people who "get up early every morning and go to work."
Speaking at a pre-Budget breakfast briefing hosted by Mullingar Chamber of Commerce, Mr Harris said that people who work hard should be able to "get ahead, not just get by."
He said via RTE that strong towns and communities across the country rely on their people who are willing to "work hard in order to get ahead."
The Tánaiste said a business support package would be introduced to help lower operating costs for business owners while improving their ability to cover rising expenses.
According to RTE, he added that reducing taxes on businesses and easing the income tax burden remain key priorities as negotiations on the Budget move into their final stages.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Social Justice Ireland's (SJI) Research and Policy Analyst Michelle Murphy said that tax credits are the "fairest way to deliver any income tax package in next month's Budget."
Murphy stated that the tax changes need to be fair and targeted to lower paid workers.
She explained that analysis by SJI indicates the fairest approach would be to increase both personal tax credits, as this would benefit every worker earning more than €20,000.
She said the Government and the Minister for Finance have also proposed raising the standard-rate band by €2,000, effectively increasing the income threshold at which the higher rate of tax applies.
"That actually doesn't have a fair distributive impact because if you're earning less than €44,000, you're not going to benefit from that. And that's really problematic because if we are going to look at changes to the income tax system, then you have to make sure that those changes will be fair, and the benefits will flow to all workers," Murphy said on Morning Ireland.
