Tony Gregory
Ceist:57 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Finance the amount of income tax paid by farmers in each year since 1986.
Written Answers. - Farmer Taxation.
The amounts of income tax paid on farming profits from 1986 to date are estimated as follows:
|
Year |
Income Tax Payments(1) |
|
£m |
|
|
1986 |
35 |
|
1987 |
34.5 |
|
1988(²) |
82 |
|
1989 |
50 |
|
1990 |
45 |
|
1991(³) |
36 |
|
1992 |
48 |
|
1993 |
52 |
|
1994 |
56 |
|
(Budget Estimate) |
Notes on table
(¹)Income tax on farming profits is collected with Schedule D tax generally and the figures shown are to some extent estimated. The figures shown in the table are the tax paid by full-time farmers together with estimated tax paid by trader-farmers on their farming profits.
(²) Of the £82 million amount paid in 1988, some £38 million was a once-off payment of tax arrears under the tax amnesty. In effect, the "normal" yield in 1988 was £44 million.
(³) The yield in 1991 from farmers was reduced by the once-off effect of deferring payment of the balances of 1990-91 tax from 1991 to 1992. Ordinarily these balances would have been paid in 1991 but were deferred to 1992 as a transitional effect of introducing the Current Year Basis of assessment for self-employed persons in 1990. The yield from farmers in 1991 was further reduced because of a decrease in farming profits.
The figures given in the answer do not include the PAYE tax paid on employment income earned by farmers or their spouses. Such tax is included in the overall collection of PAYE and it is not distinguishable until after the income tax returns submitted by farmers have been analysed. An analysis of the returns for the income tax years 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90 and 1990-91, the latest available, indicates that the following amounts of tax were paid by farmers, including trader-farmers, or their spouses, under the PAYE system for those years:
|
Tax Year |
PAYE Tax |
|
£m |
|
|
1987-88 |
28 |
|
1988-89 |
32 |
|
1989-90 |
32 |
|
1990-91 |
33 |
Corresponding figures for subsequent years are not yet available.