John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Dr. Healy referred to Ireland having a lower tax take. A number of witnesses appeared before the committee in advance of the budget, including Seamus Coffey from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. He said:

If one looks at income tax, sales taxes like VAT, corporation tax, which is now above the OECD average, and other taxes, we are close to the average for most of them. There might be differences in how we collect the money. With income tax, we are close to the OECD average for the amount of money collected but we collect it in a much different manner from other countries.

Can Dr. Healy explain the discrepancy?