Mr. Joe Cullen:

As a general point, the other issue is that the revenue forgone method is, as Ms Donaghy says, a very straightforward method, but oftentimes there can be equity considerations that need to be taken into account as well. This comes back to the idea of whether one would decide to go the direct spending route, which is targeted and transparent, or the tax expenditures route, in respect of which the information may not be as readily available and therefore as transparent. As part of the analysis carried out when putting in place a review, we would certainly take account of equity issues in that if one gives a tax relief to a particular class of taxpayer, it is at the expense of tax being paid by other taxpayers. It may also involve an equity argument in that only those who pay tax may benefit whereas those lower down the income spectrum do not get any benefit. Although these issues may be a little theoretical, they do feature in the kind of analysis we do in putting forward proposals to Ministers.