Take four close friends. Former school mates, they live in different parts of the country but occasionally take the opportunity of their class reunion to touch base.
The last meeting took place in a Dublin hotel a few months ago. Blame it on an overbearing economics teacher if you wish, but each time our four friends meet the conversation is invariably dominated by their respective wage packets.
The last time they met was five years ago so now, sitting with their pints in the hotel bar, they have a lot to catch up on.
Gerry did relatively well after leaving school. He is now the director and part owner of a private company. Five years ago he earned a little more than £52,900 a year - a salary which has since increased by about £13,000.
Gerry got the first round. Two pints of Guinness, a pint of Harp band a pint of Bulmers set him back £8.30 - £1.40 more than it cost five years ago.
Supping from his pint he explained to Sean that, although he makes over £65,000 per year, the Government takes on average 35 pence out of every pound, leaving him with £38,000 with which to support a wife, four children, and a spiralling golf club subscription. Still, his deductions used to come to about 41 per cent of his salary five years ago, but since then he has made a tax efficient £10,000 investment in the film industry.
His words cut little mustard with Sean, a welder earning £17,845 a year. Five years ago he was making £15,750 and, out of every pound earned, 23p went to pay taxes and other deductions. The percentage of his wage Sean takes home has remained unchanged over the past five years, so that he is now left with £14,715 after paying income tax and PRSI.
Sean and his wife Jackie are both 30. After their three children were born Jackie decided not to go back to work, given the tax she would have paid and the cost of child minders.
Two of Sean and Jackie's children suffer from poor health, giving the couple endless anguish and medical bills of £300 per year. They claim tax relief on £100 of this - a small but helpful consolation.
Five years ago, when our four friends last met, Jackie and Scan were completing the purchase of a house for £26,600. It is now worth about £40,000.
Since buying their house Sean and Jackie have been claiming £1,370 interest relief on their £20,000 mortgage. Unfortunately, the relief falls off after five years, and so next year they will claim only £860 of their mortgage interest against their taxes.
Realising he is out of cigarettes Sean went to the bar where he paid £2.74 for 20 cigarettes. Five years ago the same packet cost him £1.96.
He offered one to Paula, the third member of the gang of four. Since they last met, however, Paula has given up cigarettes. It's not that she is worried about her health. It's simply that, being on the dole, Paula feels she can no longer afford them.
Paula is married to Barry. They have three children. Being long term unemployed, Paula is not used to thinking in terms of an annual salary, but she quickly works out that the £139.60 her family receives in social welfare each week is equivalent to about £7,300 a year. Five years ago they received £116 a week, or about £6,000 a year. On top of this the couple receive a small Christmas bonus, some butter vouchers and a fuel allowance of £5 per week for 26 weeks of the year.
Talk of percentage increases does not mean that much to Paula. The increase her family received last year announced to £2.40 per week and was one of the reasons she decided to give up cigarettes.
What is of more importance to Paula is the price of a loaf of bread. Last week she paid 70p for a large sliced pan. Five years ago she would have paid 65p for the same loaf.
The bill after her main shopping trip last week came to £22.42. The same basket of groceries five years ago would have cost £20.42.
Siobhan isn't really interested in talking about the price of bread or the current tax rate. A civil servant, she earns £18,505 a year - up £3,393 on five years previously. This meant she could afford to buy a new apartment on the Dublin quays. It is in a tax designated area which makes it easier to afford her £34,000 mortgage.
She had wanted to buy a house but, given that the average price of a house had increased by £10,000 to £61,000 over the past five years, she could not afford it.
But Siobhan doesn't want to talk about the price of bread or the price of her apartment. Right now her favourite topic of conversation is her new Toyota Starlet. She paid £10,690 for it only a few days ago and is delighted with being able to zip around. Petrol has actually fallen in price over the past five years - down from 62p to 61p a litre.
By the time the hotel's bar staff resort to pointedly recleaning the tables, the four have decided that it is Siobhan who has done best over the past five years. This is not because she is a civil servant, but because of the apartment she bought.
The mortgage interest relief and designated area tax relief she can claim means she has reduced her tax and PAYE payments from 34p in the pound to 23p in the pound. This has helped her to increase her take home pay by about 40 per cent to £14,284.
Walking out of the hotel's lobby with her three friends, Siobhan smiles and, for the first time in two years thinks pleasantly about a dalliance she once had with a young accountant.