The Government’s four year budget plan will penalise one-income married people compared with single people to the tune of hundreds of euro per annum.

According to the Government’s National Recovery Plan, by 2014 the net pay for a married one-income family on €55,000 “will be reduced by €2,310 per annum (€44 per week) or 5.4 per cent compared with €1860 for a single person on €55,000.

This is a difference of €450 per annum.

The document also says that for those making tax relieved pension contributions, net income would fall a further 2.5 per cent at this income level in the private sector.

The Government’s plan is in addition to its tax individualisation policy, which already pushes women back into the workplace after having children.

The announcement comes after it emerged that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants the Government to give women with small children a five per cent tax credit to encourage them back into the workforce.

Responding to the measure, The Iona Institute said in a statement today that the move was “completely unacceptable and indefensible”.

Iona Institute director, David Quinn, asked: “How can this be justified? It is similar to the introduction of tax individualisation ten years ago which caused such uproar. A one-income married couple will have one dependent spouse and almost certainly dependent children as well. So why is the government imposing a bigger tax burden on them compared with single people who are likely to have no dependents?”

He continued: “Is the Government caving into pressure from the IMF, the OECD and the EU? All of these organisations want as many women as possible to be in the workplace regardless of their actual wishes. Essentially they believe a woman’s place is in work and a child’s place is in day-care, and it looks like the Government agrees.”