Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 191: To ask the Minister for Finance the job opportunities which are available where the earnings from these jobs are tax free; and if he will compare these jobs to the proposed €10,000 tax free income available to persons who mind children in their own home. [39898/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Following on my recent budget some 740,000 workers in Ireland will not have to pay income tax on their earnings in 2006. The threshold for entry into the income tax net will be €15,600 per annum for a single person, €27,600 for a married one-income family with two children and €31,200 for a married two income family with two children. The new child-minding relief I announced in my Budget Statement 2006 means that where an individual minds up to three children, who are not their own, in the minder's own home, no tax will be payable on the child-minding earnings received, provided the amount is less than €10,000 per annum. If child-minding income exceeds this, the total amount will be taxable, as normal, under self-assessment.

There are a number of established schemes which grant total or partial exemption for specified sources of earnings, for example: payments to foster carers by the Health Service Executive in respect of the care of foster children are exempt from income tax and are not taken into account in computing total income for the purposes of the Income Tax Acts; payments to qualified applicants in Gaeltacht areas in respect of students who go to Irish colleges to learn Irish under the scheme known as Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge, are exempt from income tax; an exemption from income tax applies to rent received, where a person rents out a room or rooms in his or her principal private residence, and the amount of the relevant sums received does not exceed €7,620 for a full year. In order to qualify for the exemption, it is necessary for the residential premises to be situated in the State and occupied by the individual as his or her sole or main residence during the tax year; income earned by artists, writers, composers and sculptors from the sale of their work is exempt from income tax in Ireland in certain circumstances. The artist's exemption is only available to individuals who are either resident in the State and not resident elsewhere, or ordinarily resident and domiciled in the State and not resident elsewhere. In my recent Budget Statement, I announced a new measure which will limit the use of tax breaks by those with high incomes. This measure will apply to the exempt income of artists over the amount of €250,000 per annum; and relief on retirement for certain income of certain sportspersons. Certain sportspersons who have retired can claim back up to 40% of income tax paid, before deducting expenses, for any ten of the years in which they were permanently engaged in their chosen profession.