Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to point out something that we do not consider very much in this House. An income of €100,000 may seem like an awful lot of money but we must also remember that anybody with an income of €80,000, €90,000 or €100,000 does not collect that. They get approximately 60% of it if they are lucky. When Deputies are thinking about these things, they must remember how it might backfire on themselves. The reality is that you do not collect it because it is already taxed. When you increase taxation and put an extra burden of taxation on top of that, all the executives who have such incomes automatically fall in for a loss. I cannot understand the reason for doing that. Is it because we dislike them? Is it because we do not want them here? Is it because they would be better off elsewhere? Maybe they should go elsewhere if we set out to penalise them in the clear knowledge that a person with €90,000 or €100,000 or any amount does not get that in their salary. They get a little more than half of it after all the deductions and tax. Maybe Independent Members or smaller party Members have a special resource that we do not know about, but that is the way it works. We all have to accept and understand that. We accept the lower amount. We do not object to it. We take it as it comes because we know that is what it amounts to. In the long run, you get roughly 60% of your income into your hand. Theoretically it is paid to you but you do not get it.

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