As she revealed the Department of Finance figures yesterday Labour's finance spokeswoman, Ms Joan Burton, denounced the unequal treatment of taxpayers arising from the number of tax loopholes available to the wealthy.
"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 said analysis of the figures showed: "242 people with earnings from €100,000 to €1 million had a zero percentage rate of tax for the 2001 tax year, while a further 149 single people and married couples paid an effective rate of tax of 20 per cent or less. This means some 391 of the highest income earners in the country either paid a zero rate of tax or a rate of less than 20 per cent."
She also questioned the fact that only 10,828 people in the PAYE sector declared incomes above €100,000, while even fewer people who were self-employed (9,240) declared incomes above €100,000, in 2001.
"Even allowing for the fact that this was a short tax year this_is_a_left_sq_bracketfrom April to December 2001], these earnings seem on the low side given that this was the height of the economic boom," she said.
"The Labour Party would now be advocating the establishment of a permanent tax reform commission to deal with the deep inequalities now embedded in our tax system. The Labour Party will also be advocating a minimum effective tax rate to ensure that extreme distortions of the tax system, such as those now disclosed by the Minister in his answer to my questions, will be eliminated for the future."
Green Party finance spokesman Mr Dan Boyle said: "These statistics confirm the Government's taxation policy is that those who have more should pay less."
Sinn Féin's finance spokesman, Mr CaoimhghíÓ Caoláin, said the data provided "concrete evidence . . . of the shameful legacy of Charlie McCreevy and Mary Harney in the Department of Finance and the Department of Enterprise and Trade over the last seven years".