Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 24 May 1977

Vol. 299 No. 10

Written Answers. - Tax Yields.

70.

Mr. B. Desmond

asked the Minister for Finance the actual yield to date for each of the years 1974, 1975, 1976 and the estimated yield for 1977 from each of the following taxes: wealth tax, capital gains tax and capital acquisitions tax; and the number of payers in respect of these taxes for each of the same years.

Minister for Finance (Mr. R. Ryan)

Following is the information requested:

Head of Revenue	Year ended	Yield	Number of payers
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
(a) Wealth tax	31st December, 1974	Nil(i)	Nil(i)
(b) Wealth tax	31st December, 1975	£3,672,411	Not available(ii)
(c) Wealth tax	31st December, 1976	£6,488,613(iii)	5,500(iv)
(d) Wealth tax	31st December, 1977	£6,500,000 (estimated)	5,500 (estimated)
(e) Capital gains tax	31st December, 1974	Nil(i)	Nil(i)
(f) Capital gains tax	31st December, 1975	£40,166	26
(g) Capital gains tax	31st December, 1976	£430,451	495
(h) Capital gains tax	31st December, 1977	£1,000,000 (estimated)	1,200 (estimated)
(i) Capital acquisitions tax	31st December, 1974	Nil(i)	Nil(i)
(j) Capital acquisitions tax	31st December, 1975	Nil(i)	Nil(i)
(k) Capital acquisitions tax	31st December, 1976	£433,513	118 (payments)(v)
(l) Capital acquisitions tax	31st December, 1977	£2,000,000 (estimated)	Not available(v)

(i) The Capital Gains Tax Act, 1975, became law on 5th August, 1975, the Wealth Tax Act, 1975, became law on 16th August, 1975 and the Capital Acquisitions Tax Act, 1976, became law on 31st March, 1976, Accordingly, a "nil" return is shown in columns (3) and (4) in lines (a), (e), (i) and (j).

(ii) The exigencies of dealing with the tax in the year of its inception precluded the keeping of the information sought in column (4) of line (b).

(iii) The figure £6,488,613 in column (3) of line (c) includes payments referable to the valuation date 5th April, 1975 as well as payments referable to the valuation date 5th April, 1976.

(iv) The figure of 5,500 in column (4) of line (c) is the estimated number of payers who made payments referable to the valuation date 5th April, 1976. It includes payers who have made such payments since 31st December, 1976.

It should be borne in mind that for wealth tax purposes payers comprise the three categories of assessable person, namely, individuals, discretionary trusts and private non-trading companies.

(v) As regards column (4) of lines (k) and (l), information on the number of payers is not available; a single payment can, in certain circumstances, relate to more than one payer.