Around four thousand people who earned more than €100,000 last year paid no tax on their income through availing of tax breaks in areas such as property investment and business expansion schemes, according to the Revenue Commissioners.

Most of those who had zero tax liability were company directors.

Official figures show that tax relief on capital allowances, property-based Section 23 schemes, and on investment in filmmaking continue to cost the state hundreds of millions of euro.

The latest official figures show that of 234 individuals earning between €250,000 and €500,000 per annum, fifty-four paid tax at 0-5%. A further thirty-four paid tax at less than 10%.

The biggest category of tax relief used by this category of people was the writing-down of allowances in respect of capital expenditure on hotels and holiday camps. Which just goes to show that little has changed in Ireland and that the poor and vulnerable will still end up paying for the recklessness of those who still rip us off.