The 23% tax penalty referred to by Senator Hayes is an exit tax on funds withdrawn by savers from special savings incentive accounts before they mature. The effect of this tax is to claw back the Exchequer top-up of 25% and impose a small penalty for breach of the conditions of the SSIA agreement. For example, say a person had deposited €100 in each of the first ten months of his or her account and then decided to close the account. That person would have deposited a total of €1,000, the Government would have added a further €250 and there might be deposit interest of, say, €25, making the total balance of €1,275. If such an amount were withdrawn from the account, the exit tax of 23% would amount to €293.25, leaving a balance of €981.75. This amounts to just over 98% of the funds deposited by the saver over the course of the product – a modest loss on investment due to breach of the conditions, particularly when compared to the gain to be made by abiding by the terms agreed. The Senator says he does not envisage a mass exodus from the scheme. However, if his proposal were accepted savers who withdrew from the scheme would do extraordinarily well.