Ms Cora O'Brien:

That would be a substantial undertaking and one which would certainly simplify the tax system. The personal tax system, with USC, income tax and PRSI, is highly complex. Merging USC and PRSI could be done in many different ways and would depend on whether one wanted to fully integrate the two systems. Would one put all of the USC into the PRSI system? Would one start at the bottom or top? Would it involve putting income tax into PRSI or vice versa? Members may be interested to note that the United Kingdom has been examining this issue for five or six years. Its office of tax simplification has produced some good reports on some of the challenges. We have different bases, rates and bands in the various categories, all of which would have to be amalgamated. The process would be done taking a year-by-year approach. If members are interested, the British office to which I referred has done some good work on the issue.