Special tax avoidance schemes have left the Government more than €8 billion out of pocket, it emerged tonight.
Labour finance spokeswoman, Ms Joan Burton, said figures from the Revenue Commissioners showed 28 tax avoidance measures forced the Exchequer to miss out on €8.38 billion.
The TD said it was time for "the early phasing out of reliefs that make no significant contribution to the economic life of the country, but which assist wealthy people in evading their fair share of the tax burden."
Ms Burton said the figures would further anger PAYE workers after it earlier emerged 41 single and married people earning more than half a million euro paid no tax in 2001.
The Revenue, however, said they could not reveal figures for the cost of another 33 allowances including exemptions for stallion fees, donations to third level institutions and income from foreign trusts.
"Many of these are taking advantage of generous tax allowances that are generally options only wealthy people can avail of," Ms Burton said.
"It is also shocking to learn that the Revenue Commissioners are unable to give any estimate of the cost of 33 separate reliefs - again which are generally available only to the well-off." It is believed measures to curb these abuses are unlikely to begin before 2007, as statistics on the scale of allowance schemes will not be available for another year.
Ms Burton said the tax schemes were being poorly managed and action was needed. "A chief executive of any company who was as slow about establishing the cost of loss-making projects to his firm, and who was unable to say when these loss makers would be ended, would not hold on to his job for very long," she said.
Ms Burton added she would press the Minister for Finance Mr Brian Cowen to speed up data collection on the cost of all tax reliefs.
The figures showed capital gains tax exemptions on principle private residences totalled €1,173 million, relief on private pension funds hit €1,268 million, while capital allowances relating to urban/rural renewal was as much as €1,921 million.