Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

——legitimate builders or any other kind of builders. They are now paying large sums of money to the Revenue. Settlements have led to the tax system being cleaned up. People who had all kinds of systems of evasion, within the country and outside of it, are now being detected because of the extensive laws we have introduced. The data supplied by the Minister for Finance in reply to recent questions shows he has restricted the relief for high earners. A series of measures taken by the Government in recent years, which the Minister has detailed to the House in reply to parliamentary questions, complements this action. A significant amount of tax is now being paid. The highest earners, who comprise 1% of the total number of taxpayers, now pay almost 20% of all income tax.

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