Frank O’Keeffe, the Managing Partner of EY Ireland, hosted a webcast with the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD on Wednesday 5 August. Their discussion covered a number of issues, including the timing of future decisions on taxes, including PRSI and ‘new thinking’ on tax policy.

In discussing increases in carbon taxes and PRSI rates included in the Programme for Government, the Minister said:

“I’m going to take care, particularly in relation to making decisions on PRSI, that we try to time those kinds of decisions with where we are in our economic cycle.”

In discussing the accelerated loss relief included in the July stimulus, the Minister discussed ‘new thinking’ around tax policy. He said:

“I see tax policy as being well beyond the level of tax that you need to have within an economy to pay for a certain level of expenditure and to manage your national debt, and where you are with a deficit or surplus. How you manage tax policy is a far more proactive policy tool than using it as a reactive policy leaver…”.

The budget in October was promised to be different from that of previous years, on the basis that a lot of measures were announced as part of the July stimulus. However, new options and new policies were said to be under review, particularly in the context of the National Economic Plan and the “great challenge” of Brexit.

Other topics discussed included the uncertainty in international tax and balancing this inevitable change with maintaining Ireland’s competitiveness and reputation. You can listen to the webcast through the EY Ireland website.