Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 84: To ask the Minister for Finance the tax expenditures for which he cannot provide all information in each case regarding their purpose, their cost to the Exchequer in terms of tax foregone and the number and average income levels of people taking advantage of the relief; if he intends to remedy the fact that he cannot obtain or provide this information in respect of tax expenditures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38903/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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A list of tax reliefs in respect of which costs are not currently quantifiable or are negligible or are not identifiable within total aggregates is attached to table IT 6 on pages 16 to 22 of the Statistical Report of the Revenue Commissioners for 2004, which is accessible on the Revenue Commissioners website at www.revenue.ie/pdf/sr04eng_it.pdf. Provisions were included in the Finance Act 2004 to get more information from tax returns on the cost of certain reliefs. This will provide better data in this area and enable fuller estimates of the tax foregone to be made over time.

Property based incentives on which information is being sought in tax forms include: urban renewal; town renewal; seaside resorts; rural renewal; multi-storey car parks; living over the shop; enterprise areas; park and ride; hotels; holiday cottages; nursing homes and convalescent homes; student accommodation; qualifying private hospitals, including qualifying sports injury clinics; buildings used for certain child care purposes; stud fees; woodland relief. Preliminary data at aggregate level derived from 2004 tax returns filed via the ROS system should become available from early 2006.

In my recent Budget Statement, I explained that the consultancy reviews of the various tax incentive schemes included a recommendation that recipients of such tax reliefs be required to supply full data to the Revenue Commissioners to assist in the costing and assessment of reliefs. I will follow this advice as far as appropriate.