asked the Minister for Finance the present amount of income tax payable on income of (1) £500, (2) £700 and (3) £1,000 for a single person and for a married couple in the UK and the Republic respectively.

As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, I propose, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to have it circulated with the Official Report.

Following is the statement:

Income Tax

29.

asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider, in view of the rising cost of living, increasing the tax-free allowance of £6.50 per week for single men.

The question of increasing the income tax personal allowances is primarily a budgetary matter and the Deputy will appreciate that I cannot, at this stage, give an indication of what measures the forthcoming Budget Statement may or may not contain.

30.

asked the Minister for Finance when the present tax free allowance for single men was last increased; and what the percentage increase in the cost of living is from the date of that increase.

I presume the Deputy is referring to the income tax personal allowance for single persons, which was last increased from £234 to £249 in 1969-70.

The increase in the consumer price index between 1969-70 and 1971-72 which is the latest year for which figures are available, was 18.8 per cent.

31.

asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider granting tax rebates to newly-weds who are saving to purchase a house.

The question of granting tax rebates is primarily a budgetary matter and the Deputy will appreciate that I cannot, at this stage, give an indication of what measures the forthcoming Budget Statement may or may not contain.

32.

asked the Minister for Finance the maximum earned income relief for income tax purposes allowed in the years 1939-1940, 1949-1950, 1960-1961 and 1971-1972; and what these respective sums represent in 1972 money terms.

As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, I propose with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to have it circulated with the Official Report.

Following is the statement:

The latest year for which consumer price index numbers, which are used to convert the maximum amounts of earned income relief into current money values, are available is 1971-72.

33.

asked the Minister for Finance the standard rate of income tax for the years 1939-1940, 1949-1950, 1960-1961 and 1971-1972.

The standard rate of income tax was 27½ per cent for 1939-40, 32½ per cent for 1949-50 and 35 per cent for each of the years 1960-61 and 1971-72.

34.

asked the Minister for Finance the receipts from Schedule E income tax for each of the years 1939-1940, 1949-1950, 1960-1961, 1967-1968, 1968-1969, 1969-1970 and 1970-1971; and the estimated figure for the year 1971-1972.

35.

asked the Minister for Finance what percentage of the income tax collection is represented by receipts from Schedule E for each of the years 1960-1961, 1967-1968, 1968-1969, 1969-1970 and 1970-1971; and the estimated figure for the year 1971-1972.

With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 34 and 35 together and, as the answer is in the form of a tabular statement, to have it circulated with the Official Report.

Following is the statement:

NOTES

1. Net produce of income tax is the estimated ultimate yield from the tax assessed in a given year, whether actually collected in that year or later, after deducting all discharges, remissions and setting off all repayments.

2. Figures for net produce of income tax under Schedule E are not available for any year subsequent to 1962-63 in consequence of the introduction of the system of "one taxpayer, one charge" in 1963-64. The figures in the table for 1967-68 and subsequent years show the Schedule E tax payable and not the net produce of income tax under that Schedule for those years.

3. The net produce figure for 1960-61 excludes an amount estimated at £4,150,000 in respect of the abatement provided for by section 14 of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1959, in respect of emoluments coming within PAYE.