Mr. Sebastian Barnes:

The over-reliance, in our assessment, on corporate tax receipts is a major concern. They have increased greatly and rapidly in recent years and come mostly from a small number of multinational companies. If we were to unwind our dependence on this source of revenue, at least partially, as we suggest in this report, that would mean finding the money elsewhere. There are various margins of adjustment in respect of where we could do that, as the Deputy suggested. Growth may be one of them, but that is a difficult thing for the Government to control. Other areas would include raising other forms of taxes or exploring the composition of spending in other respects. Finding alternative sources of revenue will be important. One issue to consider is that we are benefiting as well from strong income tax receipts from workers who are highly paid and highly taxed. Many of them are also working in the same corporate sectors in this context and that means our vulnerability is higher than would be suggested just by looking at the corporation tax levels.