asked the Minister for Finance if he will state the estimated yield from income tax and the cost of its collection in 1973-74.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Income Tax Yield.
30.
The budget estimate for income tax for the current year is £207.1 million.
The statistics available do not show separately the cost of collection of income tax, since income tax, surtax and corporation profits tax are administered as part of the one scheme of taxation. It is provisionally estimated that the cost of collection of these duties for 1972-73, the latest year for which figures are available, was about £4.9 million or approximately 2.5 per cent of the net receipt of those taxes for that year.
Can the Minister state whether in relation to the greatly increased yield now the cost of collecting will have, percentage-wise, increased in 1973-74 over the figure quoted?
I would say that the greater the yield the probability is the smaller the cost of collection because, with the same work force, one can collect a larger sum—unless there are more payers.