Taxation

Budget 2020 ignores the need for reform of tax expenditures

Friday, 8 November 2019

Social Justice Ireland has repeatedly called for increased scrutiny of tax expenditures as part of the budgetary process. We regret that in Budget 2020, at a time when the Minister for Finance has made a point of repeatedly noting the scarcity of available resources, government has ignored a real opportunity to increase the total tax-take whilst making the tax system fairer.

Income Gains and Effective Tax Rates after Budget 2020

Wednesday, 23 October 2019

What income changes arose from the tax and benefit measures taken in Budget 2020? What are the effective tax rates now for different levels of income, and how do they compare with effective rates over time? Click here to see.

The tax and benefit impacts of this Government's 4 Budgets

Monday, 21 October 2019

Budget 2020 marks the fourth Budget of the current Government. Our analysis tracks the cumulative impact of changes to income taxation and welfare following all four of this Government’s Budgets.

Time to bring back the tax on windfall gains from re-zoned land

Wednesday, 7 August 2019

Social Justice Ireland welcomed the decision to tax windfall gains from re-zoned land in 2010 and strongly condemned its removal five years later as one of the most retrograde policy initiatives in recent years. Government should bring back the tax on windfall gains from re-zoned land in Budget 2020.

Time to reform Corporation Taxation and Subsidies

Friday, 2 August 2019

Budget 2020 is the ideal time to reform how Ireland does corporate taxation. At present, too many firms get away with paying low effective rates or availing of overly generous subsidies or tax holidays. Our Budget 2020 submission, published in June, contains numerous proposals to improve matters.

Fairer income tax options are available in Budget 2020

Wednesday, 24 July 2019

Last week the Department of Finance noted that some of Taoiseach Varadkar’s key taxation promises could be “inequitable” and lead to increased benefits for higher earners while middle-income taxpayers lose out. In this article, we present a number of possible situations for comparison. In all cases the income tax reduction policy examined would carry a full year cost of between 1.3% and 1.5% of the total income taxation yield (€299m-€342m). Click here to see which are the fairest options for Government in Budget 2020.

Ireland needs an Adequate Tax-Take

Monday, 1 July 2019

Government's annual budget is the best opportunity available for policymakers to begin to tackle the various crises, challenges, and infrastructural deficits faced by Ireland. To achieve the various objectives, policy over the next few years must focus on increasing Ireland’s tax-take. Ireland needs an Adequate Tax-Take. Budget 2020 is the time to take a first step.

Social Justice Ireland's 5 policy priorities for our newly elected MEPs

Wednesday, 29 May 2019

Social Justice Ireland wishes our newly elected MEPs every success. This is a pivotal time for the future of the European Union and MEPs play a key role in ensuring that social and environmental sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals are at the heart of Europe's future. To this end we have formulated Five Key Policy Asks for our MEPs in conjunction with Trocaire. They are: The Elimination of Poverty The Championing of Climate Justice Policy Coherence on the SDGs Delivery on the European Pillar of Social Rights Supporting an international treaty on Business and Human Rights

Time for Government to support a Financial Transactions Tax

Friday, 24 May 2019

Social Justice Ireland regrets that to date Government has not committed to supporting European moves to introduce a Financial Transactions Tax. The tax offers the dual benefit of dampening needless and often reckless financial speculation and generating significant funds. Reports have estimated a net revenue yield of between €320m and €350m per annum in Ireland alone, while according to the United Nations, the amount of annual income raised would be enough to guarantee to every citizen of the world basic access to water, food, shelter, health and education. This tax has the potential to wipe out the worst forms of material poverty throughout the world.

Time for proper scrutiny and evaluation of Ireland's costly tax expenditures

Friday, 17 May 2019

Tax reliefs/expenditures represent revenue to the government that is being foregone. In 2016 tax reliefs amounted to approximately 10 per cent of total tax revenue - a very significant sum. However, unlike direct government expenditure, tax reliefs are not subject to annual assessment as part of the budgetary process. Social Justice Ireland considers it extraordinary that this is the case given the significant cost, and calls for reform of the process.