Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 137: To ask the Minister for Finance his estimate of the yield from an income levy of 3% rate applied to all income including social welfare and rental income with no threshold or ceiling but exemption for those who earn less than €352 per week; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41208/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the full year yield to the Exchequer, estimated by reference to 2010 incomes, from applying a 3% income levy to all personal income including rental income, excluding social welfare income and with no threshold or ceiling but exempting those who are earning less than €352 per week (annual equivalent €18,304), is estimated to be of the order of €2.05 billion. I should also point out that the income levy is already applied to rental income under the existing legislation.

Payments from the Department of Social and Family Affairs comprise means-tested payments and non-means tested payments. In accordance with the 2009 estimates, the total cost of these payments in 2009 would be about

€20 billion and 3% of this figure is €600 million.

Apart from those related to Social Welfare payments, the figures are estimates from the Revenue tax-forecasting model using actual data for the year 2007, adjusted as necessary to take account of the most recent data available for income and employment trends for the year 2010. They are therefore provisional and likely to be revised.