Taxpayers pay €9.5m for highly-paid bosses’ tax cushion

Cost to the state has jumped by almost one-third

The cost to the state of a tax break to lure highly paid executives of multinational firms to Ireland has jumped by almost one-third to €9.5 million.

New figures, based on a Revenue report, show the cost of the special assignee relief plan (SARP) shot up following changes introduced in budget 2015 to abolish the €500,000 salary ceiling for beneficiaries. The cost of the relief in 2014 was just under €6 million.

The ...