Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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They were wrong. That is fine. In reply to Deputy O'Donnell's question on why they were wrong, Mr. Buti referred to tax elasticity and the high levels of tax that were being collected from property-related sectors in particular. Surely the entire notion of a structural balance is not to rely on such elasticity or on increases in tax revenue resulting from a housing boom. How could the Commission factor in increases in tax revenues from the housing market - which it had previously stated was out of hand - in calculating the structural balance, when the whole purpose of the latter is not to include those increases?