Ms Michelle Murphy:

We are looking for an increase in the overall tax take as a percentage of GDP. In our budget choices document and socioeconomic review, we argue that we need a 1% percentage point increase each year between now and 2020 just to begin to bridge the gap. We are still under the threshold for what the European Union defines as a low-tax economy, but we need to start bringing in those kind of funds to provide the school places that will be required for those children who will be looking for them and the commensurate higher or further education places.

With regard to the increased number of older people we will have in the country, it is not just a health but a care service issue and if there are more older people with more acquired disability, how does our disability strategy run from young to old and how do we ensure a continuum of care? We make a number of proposals in terms of how we would increase the overall tax take. It cannot just be focused on income tax. A significant amount can be done with reform but we would say that the minimum starting point is a 1% percentage point increase each year between now and 2020 if we are going to deliver the services people require, such as the current level of service in health but also the new and welcome initiatives that were announced.

The reality is that the health and education budgets in particular will have to increase in the coming years no matter what way one looks at it. This is without introducing any new initiative at all but just to provide an existing level of service. Dealing with the higher education funding issue is a huge challenge and we need to look at how that will be funded. In health, it involves providing the services people will need in the areas in which they live. As we have the census data, we know where people are living. Older people will not migrate to more urban centres. How are we going to provide them with home care packages and social care in their areas in which they live? That money needs to be put in place now. Those services might not be needed for another five or six years but the infrastructure needs to be put in now. That requires more funding. Overall, it must be an overall increase in the tax take as a percentage of GDP as opposed to just the amount of revenue.