Figures released from the Department of Finance showed that low to middle income families paid more tax in 2011 compared to the country’s top earners.
If you earn between € 17,543 and €50,000, then you’re the one who is feeling the full force of our country’s austerity measures. This is what can be taken from the figures released today by the Department of Finance.
Those who earned between €17,542 and €20,000 in 2011 had to pay three times more tax then they did in 2010, which works out to be roughly a 215 per cent increase. Is your blood pressure rising now?
However, when we look at the other end of the spectrum – down around where the pot of gold is – we can see that the 118 people who earned more than €2m last year paid 0.3 per cent less tax in 2011 compared to 2010. To clarify, those who are less well off paid an average of 215 per cent more tax while the big wigs paid 0.3 per cent less.
But wait, that’s not all. Tax on lower income workers wasn’t the only thing on the rise in 2011. The number of Irish millionaires rose in 2011 as 519 people earned between €1m to €2m, which is 10 more people then in 2010.
The number of people earning between €500,000 and €700,000 rose by 30 per cent, while those earning €300,000 to €350,000 rose by 28 per cent.
Something just doesn’t stack up…
