The Irish Tax System: Challenges Ahead

Tax policy is one of the most powerful instruments a society has to shape current and future living standards. Taxation is central to the social contract between a state and its citizens and makes possible the welfare state.

Government revenues and public spending generally make up around two fifths of economic output in western Europe. The annual budget is, in normal years, by far the most significant policy intervention in the economy. In Ireland it is a major media event involving significant lobbying and well understood to have immense distributional implications for households and corporations.