Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 143: To ask the Minister for Finance how much tax was collected from persons in receipt of short-term social welfare payments in 2004. [2413/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Revenue Commissioners say the available statistics on tax receipts do not enable the amount of tax collected from persons in receipt of short-term social welfare payments to be identified within the overall tax yield.

However, income distribution information relating to the short "tax year" 2001, the most recent year available, indicate that some 39,451 persons with total earned income of €790 million in that year, including unemployment benefit and or disability benefit amounting to €93 million, had a total income tax liability of €85 million.

The extent to which taxation arises on social welfare income depends on the amount of other income 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 personal tax credits can be expected to ensure that there is no income tax to be paid on the social welfare income itself.

It should be noted that as PAYE taxpayers were charged to tax on their earnings in the period from 6 April to 31 December 2001 and self-employed taxpayers were assessed to tax for the short "year" on 74% of the profits earned in a 12 month accounting period, the income figures are not directly comparable with those of earlier or later years.