Taxed to the hilt: Galway workers cough up €650 million

 Galway workers coughed up almost €650 million in income taxes in one year, new figures reveal.

 Finance Minister Michael Noonan has confirmed that a total of €646.37 million in PAYE income tax and USC (Universal Social Charge) was raised from Galway workers in the year 2012.

A breakdown on the income tax take shows that Galway is the fourth highest contributor of income tax in the country, after Dublin, Cork and Westmeath.

The figures compiled by the Revenue Commissioners show that Dublin’s income tax contribution in that year was €7.5 billion, or almost half the entire income tax take in the country, which was €15.151 billion.

Cork’s income tax contribution in the year amounted to €1.35 billion, while the contribution of Westmeath was €775 million.

Longford had the lowest income tax contribution of any county in Ireland, at €46 million.

Revenue did not provide a breakdown of the average tax paid per person on a county-by-county basis.

However, based on the Census figures which show there are just over 250,000 people living in Galway, the average amount of income tax per person (rather than per worker) in the county is €2,584.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel