Pádraic McCormack
Question:86 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Finance the steps, if any, he proposes to take to make provision for the disregarding of a carer's allowance as taxable income. [15815/97]
Written Answers. - Carer's Allowance.
It is a general principle of taxation that, as far as possible, income from all sources should be subject to taxation. In line with this principle the majority of social welfare payments, including the carer's allowance, are therefore reckonable as income for tax purposes. Treating such payments as income for tax purposes is essentially a matter of equity. The extent to which taxation actually arises in a given case depends, of course, on the amount of other income that the social welfare recipient, or the recipient's spouse, has in the particular tax year. If there is no other income in addition to the social welfare payment, the existing exemption limits and allowances can be expected to ensure that there is no tax to be paid on the social welfare income itself.