Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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221. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of taxpayers earning less than €30,000 per annum; the numbers of which are private or public sector workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2818/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the latest relevant sector-based information available on income earners in the tax system is derived from income tax returns filed for the income tax year 2011 and represents about 95 per cent of all returns expected at the time the data was compiled for analytical purposes. The data relating to the public sector includes individuals in receipt of various forms of income from public sources that would not normally be regarded as constituting employment within the public service, e.g. those receiving fees, those on State Boards etc. On the basis of the available tax-based data it is not possible to identify and exclude income from public sources to groups that would not normally be regarded as employed within the public service or to distinguish the earnings of employees associated with atypical work patterns.

On this basis, the total numbers of public sector income earners and private sector income earners, including self-employed earners, who had earnings of less than €30,000 in the tax year 2011 is 176,800 and 935,600 respectively. A married couple which has elected or has been deemed to have elected for joint assessment is counted as one tax unit.