Average household in the county now coughs up nearly €15,000 a year to Revenue

Galway ranks eighth in Income Tax League tables with the average household in the county paying €14,919 a year – according to the latest instalment of the Taxback.com Taxpayer Sentiment Survey Series 2018

The survey reveals that as a nation we would broadly be in favour of the introduction of a Wealth Tax. The leading tax refund specialists asked 1,700 taxpayers throughout the country for their views on taxing public wealth.

The survey uncovered that a “landslide” 65% agreed a new tax on accumulated wealth should be imposed.  61% of respondents concurred that a new higher ‘third’ rate of Income Tax should be introduced to gather additional taxes from those on larger incomes.

Commenting on the findings, Barry Flanagan, Tax Director at Taxback.com said

“I’m sure many people will be surprised that support for a wealth tax amongst taxpayers is so high. After all, 65% pretty much constitutes a landslide. However, the results come with a caveat; when asked if they themselves would be prepared to pay more tax if it resulted in better public services 72% said they wouldn’t – either because they think they pay enough already or they think that it won’t result in better public services.

“The most recent statistics from CSO show that in terms of the average working household, the estimated average tax paid per household in Galway City and County in one year (2015) was €14,919. My sense would be that most of these households believe that they contribute enough already,” Mr Flanagan said.

When asked which assets should be taxed – and how often the tax should be due – a strong majority of the Taxback.com survey respondents favoured taxing land (69%), property (57%) and shares (56%), with 61% in favour of imposing a wealth tax on an annual basis. There was little support for further taxes on pensions (14%) or more personal items like cars (26%) and jewellery (16%).

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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