Sir, - Many graduate entry professions consist mainly of self-employed practitioners. But the benchmarking process allows only for comparison with employees in the private sector. On this ground alone, the process set up under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness is unsuitable for teachers and other PAYE professionals.
It is readily apparent that incomes in the self-employed sector have bounded ahead during the current economic boom and official statistics show a steady decline in the share of pay in national income. This was an inevitable consequence of the "partnership" process, which restricts employee income only, but gives tax reductions to all, even to those whose incomes have been enhanced by the restrictions!
The Statistical Report of the Revenue Commissioners for the 1997/98 tax-year is now becoming available and the economist Colm Rapple has given a brief preview in a recent publication. There are just over 210,000 self-employed taxpayers. This includes publicans, medical practitioners, solicitors, farmers, landlords, developers, electrical and plumbing contractors, owners of all retail and wholesale outlets, proprietary directors, etc. Guess how many were assessed as earning over £35,000 a year. The answer is 17,300, which is about the same as the membership of ASTI and about one third of the total number of teachers in the State. When two-income couples are added, the figure increases by 11,000.
If these figures bore any relation to reality, the price of houses would be at a fraction of their current level. A loan of £105,000 is insufficient to buy a small house in a poor area of Dublin.
It is clear that the income of the self-employed is being assessed on a completely different basis to that of the PAYE professional and of employees generally.
Teachers and other PAYE professionals require a much higher nominal income to receive comparable actual rewards. The ASTI claim for a rise of 30 per cent, instead of the PPF and the TUI claim for a large increase in the early settlers' award in addition to the PPF, is therefore well justified. - Yours, etc.,
Paddy Healy, Member of Governing Body, DIT, Former National Honorary Secretary, TUI, School of Physics, DIT Kevin Street, Dublin 8.