Figures show 11 millionaires paid no tax

Eleven millionaires in the Republic are paying no income tax, according to figures released by the Department of Finance.

The figures for 2001 - the most up-to-date available - were released by the Department to the Labour Party finance spokeswoman, Ms Joan Burton.

They show that 41 people with incomes of €500,000 or more paid no tax in 2001. Eleven of these, nine self-employed and two PAYE workers, had incomes of more than €1,000,000.

The figures also show that 242 people with earnings of between €100,000 and €1,000,000 paid no tax for the 2001 tax year, while a further 149 people had paid an effective rate of tax of 20 per cent of less.

"The figures are truly astonishing indictment of the range of tax loopholes and avoidance measures which had been built up during the McCreevy years and which allow many of the most wealthy in Irish society to avoid tax," Ms Burton said.

"It is difficult for the ordinary taxpayer to continue to accept a situation where people are in crisis situations on trolleys in hospitals while some of the wealthiest in Irish society could avoid all obligations to paying a fair share of tax," she added.

Ms Burton said it was "almost certain" that the figures for last year and 2003 will show "an even more extreme and disturbing situation".

The party has called for the establishment of a permanent tax reform commission and advocates a minimum effective tax rate "to ensure that extreme distortions of the tax system" are eliminated.