Cowen Defends Ireland’s System Of Tax Reliefs

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

15 November 2004

Responding to criticism from the Opposition over the level of tax reliefs granted under Ireland’s taxation system, Finance Minister Brian Cowen said last week that the deductions were "legitimate and reasonable" and benefited all levels of society, not just the wealthy.

Cowen’s comments followed a revelation by Joan Burton, the Labour Party’s spokeswoman for finance, that the Revenue Commission pays out over EUR8 billion in tax relief on 28 schemes, whilst the cost of a further 33 reliefs is unknown.

Reacting to Burton’s accusation that these tax deductions helped several dozen wealthy people reduce their tax bills to virtually zero, Cowen stated that the numbers able to pull this off were “very small.”

"These are not tax reliefs for the rich despite what recent ill-advised Opposition press releases say," he remarked.

Cowen noted that the largest amount of money was spent on tax reliefs such as pension contributions, stamp duty and capital gains tax exemptions on homes, mortgage interest relief, non-taxation of child benefit and medical insurance relief which benefited all classes of society.

Defending the government’s record, the minister observed that there had been 29 separate actions to close loopholes and limit reliefs since 1998.

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