asked the Minister for Finance in respect of each financial period since the introduction of the Wealth Tax, (a) the amount collected; (b) the number of persons paying wealth tax; and (c) the amount paid by each.

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

Following is the statement:

(i) Each amount in column (a) is the amount collected in the relevant period, irrespective of the valuation date to which the tax was referable. For example, the amount collected in 1976 includes a substantial portion of the tax referable to the valuation date 5th April, 1975. The figure of £5,555,730 for the first ten months of 1977 is provisional, the final figure not being yet available. The 1977 budget estimate of receipts from wealth tax for 1977 is £6,500,000.

(ii) The figures in column (b) are the most up-to-date estimates of the number of persons who made payments referable to the valuation dates 5th April, 1975, 5th April, 1976 and 5th April, 1977, irrespective of the financial period in which the payments were made. Wealth taxpayers comprise three categories of assessable persons, namely, individuals, discretionary trusts and private non-trading companies.

(iii) It would not be feasible to list each payment. The figure in column (c) is obtained by dividing the sum of the three amounts in column (a) by the sum of the 3 figures in column (b). This method of arriving at the average takes into consideration the factors referred to in notes (i) and (ii).

Could I ask the Minister whether there is full information under subheads (b) and (c) of this question in the tabular statement?

Yes, subject to footnotes which will explain certain difficulties.

So I shall have to wait and see.