Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 8 December 2021
Committee on Budgetary Oversight
Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council
Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
Regarding that issue and the forecasting, there is an underspend in capital and grants whereby works could not be carried out or moneys were there to be spent but were not. How does the council see the Departments managing that? The Tánaiste said the other day that there is an underspend and we might be able to find money for this, that and the other in it. Does the council have any idea of the underspend we have had in Departments as a result of not being able to carry out projects during Covid?
Dr. Casey mentioned income tax and individual sectors. If we make a change to our income tax rates, how do we evaluate that if we do not know what the sectors are delivering for us since we gave the lower paid an additional tax-free allowance? How do we understand the cost of that or if we were to put an extra percentage point on the top earners, how much that would bring in?