Tax system - Rich must be made to pay their share

Most readers are probably old enough to remember the economic gloom of the 1980s. Even though we are now aware of the high levels of tax evasion that went on, many of the current problems over taxation would have been a welcome diversion then.

The income tax figures for 2001, which is the latest year for which figures are available, indicate unprecedented levels of prosperity. During that year, 203 people in this country earned over €1 million. Over three times as many earned between €500,000 and €1m that year and 19,205 people earned between €100,000 and half a million.

Those are figures that should be welcomed, especially against the backdrop of the recession of the 1980s, when many tax concessions were introduced to stimulate the economy in the midst of widespread unemployment and rampant emigration.