Sir, - A regular contributor to a Sunday newspaper recently quoted the 1999 Revenue Commissioners' Statistical Report as stating that only some 17,000 self-employed declared annual incomes of £35,000 or more.
This statistic has gained currency. I have heard it quoted on the radio and it has now appeared in a letter to you from a teacher complaining of the self-employed getting away with tax compared to the PAYE lot of the teacher.
For the record, the Revenue Report referred to shows, on page 69, that 34,855 self-employed, earning in excess of £35,000 per year, had an average income of £81,783. The same Report dispels another myth. It shows that the self-employed comprise 14 per cent of the working population and they paid 24 per cent of the total income taxes. - Yours, etc.,
Des Peelo, Upper Grand Canal Street, Dublin 4.