Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 3 December 2015

Public Accounts Committee

2014 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2014
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Cost of Bank Stabilisation Measures as at the end of 2014
Finance Accounts 2014

10:00 am

Mr. Derek Moran:

I might add to that. VAT is one of those taxes that generally speaking is a good indicator of what is going on in the economy at large, rather than specifically relating to any area. It reflects the recovery in consumption and confidence. It grew well and steadily in 2014 as we saw domestic demand coming back and we have seen it again this year.

The patent cliff was an issue that was very particular to the pharma sector. Mr. McCarthy and his colleagues did some very good work on that, in particular its impact in terms of the national accounts. It is not clear that it had a huge impact on corporate taxation paid. As the drugs came off patent the companies were doing other things and there was a long timeline and planning into that. It is fair to say-----

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