Budgetary Oversight Committee to discuss impact of tax reliefs, credits, allowances with UCD academic

The meeting builds on the Committee’s Jan. 22 briefings from the Parliamentary Budget Office and its engagement with officials from the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners on the topic of “tax expenditures.” These wide-ranging measures in Ireland’s tax code are designed to promote positive socioeconomic outcomes, spur job creation and incentivise investment.

“The Committee is interested to identify ways that the relative effectiveness and cost of tax expenditures can be regularly scrutinised and reassessed, given the prevailing lack of regular scrutiny. Dr. Michéal Collins has been considering this issue in detail for many years and his perspective bears careful consideration,” said Committee Chairman Colm Brophy TD.

“The Committee seeks to identify the best ways to make the review of tax expenditures a regular feature of the budget scrutiny cycle and to sharpen our ability to identify instances when these measures are no longer cost-effective or fit for purpose.”

The meeting in Committee Room 3 can be viewed live here.

For background, read the Parliamentary Budget Office’s September 2018 report Tax Expenditures in Ireland here.