asked the Minister for Finance if he will state in respect of each of the last five years for which the information is available the number of persons assessed to income tax under Schedules A, B, D and E respectively and the amount of income tax collected under each such schedule.
Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers. - Income Tax Assessment.
Income tax statistics are not compiled at present in such a form as to enable the information required by the Deputy to be given. It would not be possible to seek to obtain the particulars asked for without considerable expense, which it would be difficult to justify, and without diverting the staff from its main function, the assessment and collection of the tax. The particulars when obtained would be of comparatively little value because the same person is frequently assessed under more than one schedule. Thus the employee of a public company who owns his residence and is in receipt of income from British dividends will be assessed under Schedule A for the ownership of his house, under Schedule D for his dividends and under Schedule E for his salary. As regards the second part of the question, the total yield could not be divided between the respective schedules since under the existing system of differentiation and graduation of the income tax the allowances, deductions and reliefs are related not to the various sources of income charged under each schedule but to the total income of the taxpayer.
Has the Minister any information which would give a broad picture of the number of taxpayers under these particular schedules?
The number of people who are assessed under all the schedules was estimated, about four years ago, to be 150,000.