Payback Time

Sir, - On behalf of the self-employed who paid their entire 1997/98 contributions (income tax, PRSI, levies) in recent days, …

Sir, - On behalf of the self-employed who paid their entire 1997/98 contributions (income tax, PRSI, levies) in recent days, may I use your columns to appeal to Mr McCreevy to replace the existing PAYE tax allowance by an increase in the single personal allowance for all taxpayers?

I fail to see either the logic or equity in a system under which a self-employed business person pays £384 more tax than an employee who earns an identical annual income (£768 more in the case of both spouses working in a family business compared with a couple employed by them). - Yours, etc.,

E. F. Stephenson & Co, Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors,

Tralee, Co Kerry.