Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I want to return to the issue of VAT. In their statement the witnesses spoke about VAT and stated that new VAT rules also provide for the phasing out of preferential treatment for environmentally harmful goods. In the past the committee has spoken about the greening of VAT and how it might be possible. I would like to hear more about this. The witnesses also spoke about a review of the VAT treatment of goods and services in Ireland to ensure that our rates are in line with the EU. I am interested to hear the thoughts of the witnesses on the greening of VAT. Do they think Ireland is particularly out of line with EU norms? The Irish Tax Institute and the Commission on Taxation and Welfare have identified the review of VAT as a possible way to broaden the base. The committee often speaks about VAT not as being regressive but as not being a progressive tax because it hits everybody the same. Perhaps we could also deal with this issue.