State's top 50 earners paid less than 5% tax

Arthur Morgan

FIGURES published this week by the Revenue Commissioners in the 26 Counties show that the  top 50 earners in the state paid less than 5% tax.
Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan has said the figures provided further evidence of a lax tax regime when it comes to high income earners. Morgan called for the introduction of further restrictions on the use of specified tax reliefs to ensure that high income earners pay their fair share of tax.
Deputy Morgan said:
“The figures which show that the State’s top 50 earners paid less than 5% tax is no surprise.
“Sinn Féin has been to fore in pointing out the deficiencies of the current tax regime whereby certain high income individuals are able to exploit elements of the tax system to reduce their tax liability to what ends up being a nominal amount.
“The Government must address this issue without further delay. Sinn Féin has proposed they do so by increasing restrictions on the use of specific tax relief’s by high income individuals.
“Sinn Fein has suggested one way of addressing this taxation inequality between high and lower income earners would be to set a maximum of 10% of income exempt from taxation as a result of the use of specified reliefs.”