A total of 22,470 taxpayers declared income of above €100,000 to the tax authorities in the 1999/2000 tax year, according to figures just published by the Revenue Commissioners.

This group contributed just over 20 per cent of the total income tax take, according to the figures, which show that the 9,891 taxpayers with declared incomes of more than €150,000 paid almost 14 per cent of the total.

In the previous tax year the figures were published in pounds; just over 20,000 taxpayers had declared incomes that year in excess of £75,000 (which is almost equivalent to €100,000).

There were 1.16 million taxpayers during the year, according to the figures. (Married couples on joint assessment count as one). They had total income of €32.589 million, an average of just under €28,100, according to the Revenue's Annual Statistical Bulletin.

Apart from the last numbers with very low declared incomes, most of whom would have paid no tax, the figures show that those earning between €40,000 and €50,000 contributed 12 per cent of the total income tax of over €7.2 billion, the largest contribution apart from those earning more than €150,000.

The figures show that the PAYE sector contributed €6.1 billion of the total. Almost 14,000 PAYE employees had income declared of over €100,000 during the 1999/2000 tax year. Some 8,000 proprietary directors had income in this category. The figures show that the proprietary directors had a much higher average income level. Those earning over €100,000 contributed some 60 per cent of the overall tax take from this group. The figures show that 609,617 of the taxpayers were liable only at the standard rate, which was then 24 per cent but has since fallen to 20 per cent. A total of 533,909 paid at the higher rate, then 46 per cent, now 42 per cent.