Professor Philip Lane:

Absolutely. We did so when the new US tax laws were proposed. If anything else is proposed, we will examine its implications for our financial system. Tax is a big issue, especially for this economy given the size of the multinational sector here. We absolutely will do that. It is important to recognise that tax systems are partly based on principle or philosophy, regardless of any impact assessment. If there is a philosophical decision made that tax systems should behave in a certain way, one must live with that regardless of the impact assessment. Decisions do not always wait for impact assessments. The reality is that decisions may be made using a values-based approach rather than on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis.