The CCAB-I submitted a response to the Department of Finance’s Income Tax Reform Plan. The letter acknowledges the need for measures to help ease the burden on low and middle income earners but cautions against reducing the tax base and shifting the income tax burden onto one sector of the economy.

The views of CCAB-I have been communicated to Minister Noonan in the pre-Budget Submission 2017 and the letter in respect of the Income Tax Reform Plan makes three brief observations specifically on the Income Tax Reform Plan.

• It is not realistic to expect the high earner sector which already pays the lion’s share of income tax to accept more of a tax burden
• Further increasing the tax burden on high income earners will lead to increased labour costs for employers
• Necessary remedies are planned to remove the bias in the tax system against self-employed tax payers. Income tax policy should pursue removing such distortions in the income tax system particularly if they impact the highly skilled end of the labour market and thus Ireland’s position as an FDI hub