Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis

Nexus Phase

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Okay, but I would put to you, Mr. Considine, that the evidence shows very clearly that from the late 1980s onwards, there was a gradual increase in the dependence on the cyclical taxes, being corporation tax, stamp duty and capital gains tax. And during your years as Secretary General of the Department, there was a dramatic acceleration in the dependence on cyclical taxes to such an extent that it increased to 30% in 2006. So 30% of all taxation revenue was deemed to be cyclical in nature and dependent on, essentially, temporary factors which, ultimately, fizzled away.