Tax Expenditures: Revenue and Information Forgone - The Experience of Ireland

Abstract

Tax expenditures are perceived to represent a ‘pervasive and growing’ (OECD, 2010) element of many national taxation systems. Despite this, in many countries, there remains a critical lack of understanding of their impact and scale. A 2010 OECD analysis produced data for only seven of its thirty-four member states. Internationally and nationally, such an information deficit undermines the ability of taxation systems to function efficiently and compromises the ability of policy makers to design, control and evaluate taxation interventions. The latter is all the more relevant in the context of recent economic challenges. This paper derives from the results of the first comprehensive exploration of Ireland’s tax expenditure system. It highlights the previously unknown scale of that system, points towards a series of information deficits and compares the Irish system to that of other OECD countries. Based on this analysis, the paper offers a series of administrative and structural reforms relevant to all tax expenditure systems.