Some of the country's 'super-rich', with incomes of more than a million euro a year, are not paying a single cent in income tax, according to new figures this week from the Revenue Commissioners.
The figures show that a number of million-plus euro earners managed to arrange their affairs so that they had "no net liability for income tax" in four tax years between 2000 and 2003.
In 2003, the latest year for which returns have been analysed, there were 16,427 mainly self-employed people who declared an income of more than €100,000 a year.
According to the Revenue analysis, 184 of these six-figure earners - 140 of them married and 44 single or widowed - paid no tax at all.
Four of 222 people with earnings of a million euro plus in 2003 - three of whom were married - were among those who paid no tax. Another of the 34 million-plus earners managed to only pay tax at the lowest 20 per cent income tax rate.
In the previous three years a number of million-plus earners also managed to use a range of tax breaks to avoid any income tax. The range of reliefs would include capital allowances, various property breaks, allowable losses and expenses, retirement annuities, the stallion tax deal and the artists' exemption scheme. In 2000-2001, there were 10 million-plus earners who paid no tax. In the short tax year 2001, 11 millionaires avoided income tax. In 2002 there were five of the top paid with no tax liability.
The figures were provided by the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, to Labour frontbench spokeswoman Joan Burton, who described them as "stunning".
"With all the promises that have been made to restrict and limit some of the loopholes, it is still not having an impact.
"While a single person on the average industrial wage of around €32,000 a year will pay tax at 42 per cent, on the other hand there is a class in a golden circle group that are being provided with an incredible network of highly lucrative tax breaks.
"They are simply not contributing their fair share. It is obvious from these figures that the process of reform is going to take years if not more than a decade to actually be implemented," Ms Burton said.
The Minister said changes to the structure and extent of tax reliefs made in recent budgets "will increase the average tax rate for those on higher incomes".