Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The essence of a tax expenditure, tax incentive, a tax break or whatever one wants to call it is that it is provided to incentivise individual taxpayers, companies or others to do certain things, create certain activities and generate economic activity. It is genuinely shocking that there are no sunset clauses. At a minimum, we should try to address an approach this where as companies grow and develop, they contribute their proper share of tax contribution to the Exchequer.

It is important that tax expenditure should be reviewed. The research and development tax credit is a case in point. We know it was intended for a certain type of activity but we have not had sufficient analysis done to find out who and how the country are benefitting from it. I have put forward a Private Members' Bill to create a standing commission which would constantly look at tax breaks.

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