Irish pay personal income tax system

Abstract

This paper describes part of the Personal Income Tax system in the context of work in progress on a model of the Irish economy. The model is a short-run one designed to quantify the effects of fiscal policy on the major economic aggregates. It is being estimated over the 21 year period 1953 to 1973. We wished to consider only those effects of fiscal policy which occur within one year of a given fiscal action. Thus, in so far as personal income tax is concerned, we need only consider the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax system; other personal income tax receipts in any year, such as those from self-employed persons, have been functions of incomeand the tax system prevailing in the previous year, or in previous years. That is because there have been lags between the period when income accrued and when it was assessed for tax, and a further lag between assessment and payment of tax. No such lag operates in the PAYE system.