So, how do you analyse Budget 2018 from the perspective of the agriculture sector?

Taking the long view on it, one would have to say that things have improved a good deal – cuts to the ANCs which were introduced in the 2009 budget are finally in the process of being reversed, with an extra €25m announced this week.

Positive initiatives to support farm competitiveness, in the form of low-cost finance and on-farm investment grants, also formed part of Tuesday’s budget. We need to see the finer details of this year’s version of the agri cashflow fund as soon as possible. Given the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, farmers have to get as much as possible from the funds announced by the minister.

The response that emerged from last year’s budget is proof of the need for more low-cost finance.

It is disappointing that there was no increased allocation for suckler cows under the Beef Data and Genomics Programme. The suckler cow sector is under increased pressure and the budget was a missed opportunity to provide additional support to the sector.

The sterling fluctuations continue to put huge pressure on prices to farmers.

On stamp duty, the proposal to increase the rate from 2% to 6% will certainly affect the land market. There is no question that Minister Donohoe had the commercial property market in mind when he made the announcement on Tuesday. What we have had since are conflicting messages around what it means for land sales. This confusion has to be cleared up.

The move to classify the leasing of farmland under solar panels as qualifying as an agricultural activity was a practical move that the IFA had lobbied for – serving the dual purpose of supporting farm diversification and increasing the agriculture sector’s contribution to meeting Ireland’s renewable energy targets.

But there were plenty of missed opportunities for other innovative tax measures that would have had little or no cost to the Exchequer.

These could have made a real difference to farmers’ behaviour and positively affected their farming enterprises. After a number of years where imaginative measures were introduced that really encouraged land mobility, supported farm restructuring and tackled income volatility, this was a budget that just lacked creativity.

Why, for example, did the Government not see fit to reduce the VAT rate on animal vaccines, and support improvements in animal health through encouraging greater levels of vaccination?

Tuesday’s budget covered many areas, and farm families, like all others, will benefit from the income tax reductions, social welfare increases and other measures such as reduced prescription costs and the increased funding for homecare packages. What was hugely disappointing was the failure to equalise the Earned Income Tax Credit with the PAYE credit – as the Government had expressly committed to in the Programme for Government.

One of the key principles of a good tax system is equity. The fact that any farmer or self-employed person earning €16,500 or more in 2018 will pay €500 more in income tax than an equivalent employee, is simply not equitable and not fair.

With €830m in additional revenue-raising measures introduced in this budget, the amount that it would have cost to bring self-employed workers up to parity with employees in the income tax system should have been found.

The work of IFA continues and we will focus on the fact that there will be greater scope for the Government to show more ambition in future budgets.

The public finances will be in better shape, but with this comes the challenge to deliver better targeted and better thought-out measures for the sector.

This is critically important as we face the challenges of Brexit and income volatility.

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