Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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149. To ask the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 62 of 23 February 2015, the reason her Department does not collect detailed information regarding pay related social insurance receipts, by income bracket; if it is possible to execute prudent fiscal management and make budgetary projections in the absence of this data; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10516/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department receives details from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners of pay related social insurance (PRSI) paid by employees, employers and the self-employed.

The data received from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners show both the income base for income tax purposes and the income base for the universal social charge (USC).

The Statistics Unit of the Department analyse these data to extrapolate the income base on which PRSI is charged. This adjusted base figure is then used to cost various budget proposals to ensure that they reflect, as far as is possible, the likely yield from the various proposals and in the context of safeguarding the incentive to work.