Máirín Quill
Question:114 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Finance the amount of revenue received by the Government from tax and VAT on the sales of legally available drugs from chemists and doctors in each of the years 1990 and 1991.
Written Answers. - Drug Sales Revenue.
Medicine does not attract tax other than VAT. VAT returns are not completed in a manner which would enable the yield from particular goods or services to be identified. Oral medicine, which accounts for the largest proportion of medicine sold, is liable for VAT at the zero rate. From available non-Revenue data, it is estimated that the VAT yield from non-oral medicine in each of the years 1990 and 1991 was of the order of £12 million.