DAIL BRIEFS: Tax relief on medical expense claims cost the Exchequer about €41 million in 2001, according to the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy.
Some 107,800 claims were accepted in 2000/01, the most recent tax year for which information is available.
Mr McCreevy also informed Mr Paul McGrath (FG, Westmeath) in a series of written parliamentary replies that raising the threshold for the drug refunds scheme from €70 to €78 would save the Department of Finance about €10 million a year.
The Minister stated that reducing the top rate of income tax by 1 per cent would cost the Exchequer an estimated €190 million in a full year, based on projected 2004 incomes.