In advance of Minister for Finance Jack Chambers and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe setting out Budget 2025 on Tuesday, The Irish Times spoke to a small business owner on what she would like to be announced.
Eimear Killian, co-owner of Builín Blasta Café & Bakery in Spiddal said a decrease in the VAT rate for hospitality from 13.5 per cent to 9 per cent was on her Budget 2025 wish list.
If VAT was reduced to 9 per cent, it would be 4.5 per cent that small businesses wouldn’t have to find every month, Ms Killian said. It would “take a bit of pressure off your cashflow” as VAT comes directly off the bottom line and small businesses have to find that money every month. .
At the end of the day, owners are in business to make money, she pointe out.. “There’s no point in being busy fools.” Costs such as rises in water rates and energy bills all add to the cost of running a small business, she said.
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Ms Killian supports paying staff properly, however, budget proposals such as increasing sick leave from five to seven days or increasing PRSI could mean additional costs for her business next year. “It’s just all those little things all add up, so it’s just that things would be a bit more spread out.”
If supports for small businesses are not in the budget, Ms Killian said, prices would go up, small independent businesses would close and there would inevitably be job losses.
She also pointed out that such a scenario would have an impact on restaurant suppliers as they would be losing outlets markets for their products.
