Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 370: To ask the Minister for Finance if a section to deal with the anomaly whereby pensioners and others not in the tax bracket do not have the opportunity to reduce the cost of payment of local services, including refuse collection which is available to people in a position to claim allowance under the income tax regulations will be included in the Finance Bill 2006. [3246/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The current tax relief for waste service charges is provided by granting relief at the standard rate to taxpayers in respect of the charges they have paid in the previous year. Where a fixed annual charge applies, the full payment qualifies for tax relief, provided it has been paid on time. Where a variable charge is applied for refuse collection, based on a weight or volume, the tax relief is restricted to a maximum of €195 per annum at the standard rate of tax. Tax credits, as they currently apply in the tax system, are generally only of value when the taxpayer has sufficient income on which he or she pays enough tax to use them. Finally, the Finance Bill will be published on 2 February and it is not the practice to comment on it, one way or another, before it is presented to the Dáil.