John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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208. To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated cost to the Exchequer of widening the tax bands for income tax and cuts to the rates of universal social charge for each of the years 2015 to 2021 and to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46450/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, estimated costings of any tax policy change or new tax measure announced in the Budget are set out in the Tax Policy Changes document published on Budget Day. The estimated costings are provided on a first year and a full year basis, based on the most up to date information available at the time when the measure is announced.

The Budget 2022 tax policy changes can be located at the link below, and the tax policy changes in Budget 2015 to Budget 2021 can be located on the Budget website for the respective years - www.gov.ie/en/publication/7e491-taxation-measures/

As part of the 2022 Income Tax TSG (Tax Strategy Group) paper, my Department provided a comprehensive overview of the recent Income Tax developments from Budget 2015 to Budget 2022, which includes changes to the USC and widening of the income tax bands, as well as other measures such as increases to personal tax credits. The TSG paper is published on my Department’s website and the table below contains a breakdown per year of the estimated “full year” costs of the Income Tax Packages in Budgets 2015 – Budget 2022.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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209. To ask the Minister for Finance the total number of workers who paid PAYE income tax and the total number who paid universal social charge in 2021; the total amount of PAYE income tax and USC received in 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46452/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that, based on payroll data submitted to Revenue in 2021, the total number of workers that paid PAYE Income Tax in 2021 is approximately 2.53 million and the total number of workers that paid Universal Social Charge (USC) in 2021 is approximately 2.63 million. It should be noted that these figures represent workers that paid Income Tax or USC through payroll in 2021, rather than representing those with a final tax liability.

Revenue publish a breakdown of net receipts by tax head which can be located at the following link - www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/documents/statistics/receipts/net-receipts.pdf

As shown in this publication, in 2021 PAYE income tax amounted to €18.7bn and PAYE USC amounted to €3.7bn.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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210. To ask the Minister for Finance the total number of single unmarried persons with no dependents who paid PAYE income tax or universal social charge in 2021; the total amount of PAYE income tax and USC which they paid in 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46453/22]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that taxpayers can have income from both PAYE and non-PAYE sources of income, which are combined to arrive at their gross income. A breakdown of taxpayer units based on their personal status is available in respect of their gross income, however, such a breakdown is not available solely based on one element of their gross income, such as PAYE income as requested by the Deputy. In addition, it is not possible to provide a further breakdown to account for dependents of taxpayers.

I am further advised by Revenue that the number of taxpayer units and the income tax paid broken down by Personal Status (including single persons) can be found in Revenue’s ‘Income Tax Distributions Interactive tables’ publication available on the Revenue website at www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/income-distributions/stats/Income-Tax-breakdown-by-Gross-Income.aspx. Based on the latest available data (2019), single persons accounted for 1.7m taxpayer units (58.8% of all taxpayer units) and had an income tax liability of approximately €5.9 billion (32.3% of the total income tax liability).

The equivalent information in relation to USC is also available on Revenue’s website at: www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/income-distributions/stats/Income-Tax-Distributions.aspx. Based on the latest available data (2019), single persons accounted for 1.7m taxpayer units (58.8% of all taxpayer units) and had a USC liability of approximately €1.2 billion (31.2% of the total USC liability).

It should be noted that jointly assessed couples are counted as one taxpayer unit. Data for 2020 will be available in Q4 of this year at the above links. There are currently no data available for 2021 as these statistics are compiled to include PAYE and self-assessed taxpayer units together, and the filing deadline for the self-assessment tax return (the Form 11) in relation to 2021 is in Q4 of this year.