Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I do not accept the figures given by the Deputy for the site acquisition tax and others, because there is much work to be done before we can even see what the rates will be. The Deputy also leaves out the fact that all tax expenditures are being considered in the context of the Commission on Taxation report. Many tax expenditures take place at the moment as part of our effort to achieve an enterprise economy, and these must be considered. Thus, there are expenditures on tax as well as the question of the introduction of new taxes.

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