Pay as you grow rich.

(From Irish Independent)

"I'VE been rich and I've been poor," said the singer Pearl Bailey, "and rich is better." Only in the last decade or so have we learned how much better, and we have had some trouble measuring our increase in wealth. The Department of Finace has obliged with a set of figures showing the rises in incomes between 2001 and 2004 and including an estimate for 2005.

The information is nothing short of breathtaking. Of course a table of figures on a page or on a screen cannot compare with the tangible evidence of prosperity all around us, from the gourmet restaurants to the luxury cars to the new golf clubs and marinas, but this table shows in a most dramatic way what has happened in the various income categories.

In a mere four years, the numbers in the higher brackets have risen at an astonishing rate. They have doubled, trebled, even quadrupled. And, strikingly, the increases have been even more spectacular in the case of PAYE income earners than in that of the self-employed.

In 2001, for example, 6,500 self-employed people earned between 100,000 and 200,000. The figure for this year is 12,800, almost double. ...