Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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177. To ask the Minister for Finance the full year cost of increasing the single and widowed marginal tax band to €33,900, €34,900, €35,900, €36,900, €37,900 and €38,900, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34209/17]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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178. To ask the Minister for Finance the full year cost of increasing the married one income marginal tax band to €42,900, €43,900, €44,900, €45,900, €46,900 and €47,900, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34210/17]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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179. To ask the Minister for Finance the full year cost of increasing the married two income marginal tax band to €67,800, €68,800, €69,800, €70,800, €71,800 and €72,800, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34211/17]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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182. To ask the Minister for Finance the full year cost or yield from merging the first band of USC below €12,012 with the second band of USC from €12,012 to €18,772 at a rate 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2% and 2.5% respectively leaving all else equal with USC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34214/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 177 to 179, inclusive, and 182 together.

I am advised by Revenue that a Post-Budget 2017 Ready Reckoner is available on the Revenue Statistics webpage at 

.

This Ready Reckoner shows a wide range of detailed information, including the estimated cost or yield to the Exchequer of widening the standard tax rate bands and the cost of reducing the USC rates. While the Ready Reckoner does not show all of the specific costings requested by the Deputy, other changes can be estimated on a pro-rata basis with those displayed in the Reckoner.

The figures provided in the Ready Reckoner are estimates from the Revenue tax forecasting model using latest actual data for the year 2014, adjusted as necessary for income, self-employment and employment trends in the interim. They are estimated by reference to projected 2017 incomes. They are provisional and may be revised.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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180. To ask the Minister for Finance the first year cost of deferring income tax on share based remuneration for employees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34212/17]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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181. To ask the Minister for Finance the first year cost of deferring income tax on share based remuneration for employees of small and medium-sized enterprises; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34213/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 180 and 181 together.

I am advised by Revenue that as share based remuneration, in general, is taxed under the PAYE system, it is not possible to separately identify the yield to the Exchequer from such share awards. There is therefore no basis to estimate the cost of deferring income tax on such remuneration for employees.

The Deputy may be interested in the ‘Cost of Tax Expenditures’ table published by the Revenue Commissioners and available at .

This table provides the cost of a number of share based remuneration incentive schemes from 2004 to 2014. The table will be updated shortly with the 2015 figures.

Similarly, there is no basis to estimate the cost of deferring income tax due on share based remuneration for employees of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), generally.  However, as the Deputy will be aware, following a pubic consultation on the tax treatment of share based remuneration conducted in 2016, it was announced in the last Budget that work had commenced on the development of a new, SME-focussed, share-based incentive scheme, to be introduced in Budget 2018.

Work on this new incentive is ongoing. In this regard my officials are engaging with the European Commission to ensure that the incentive complies with EU State Aid rules, and it will be possible to provide an estimated cost for this targeted incentive when the relevant parameters are finalised.

Employee participation in their company’s ownership and profits has been shown to increase competitiveness and support employment and growth. The incentive to be introduced in Budget 2018, is expected to support Irish SMEs in the attraction and retention of key individuals, thereby helping those SMEs in the ongoing development of their businesses.