Vol. 483 No. 4
93 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons in receipt of social welfare old age pension who pay tax; the cost per annum to give the old age pension free of tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20755/97]
The relevant information available is in respect of recipients of social welfare pensions, of whom some 33,000 individuals aged 65 years or over are estimated to have taxable incomes.
In the case of social welfare pension income, 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.
I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that income tax statistics do not generally distinguish between the amounts of tax that arise from pensions and from other sources. However, it is tentatively estimated that the cost in terms of tax forgone on combined pension and other income from exempting social welfare pensions from tax could be of the order of £30 million in a full year.
