On behalf of my Independent colleagues and myself, I extend our deepest condolences to the family of Emma Mhic Mhathúna and salute her great courage and dignity.

Yesterday's budget was, I think, the 12th delivered by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, going back to 2009, and the third of this de facto coalition. One of the constant themes of all those and of the earlier budgets was the widespread use of total Government revenue forgone under the joint policy of tax expenditures, as for example the extra tax relief given yesterday for the Government's landlord friends. The 2014 Department of Finance report defines tax expenditures as "reducing tax obligations with respect to a benchmark tax rather than by direct expenditure" and "provisions that reduce or postpone revenue for a comparatively narrow population of taxpayers relative to the tax base", and such expenditures include exemptions, allowances, credits, deferral rules, etc.

These expenditures are very significant, as outlined in briefing paper 13 of 2018 by our excellent Parliamentary Budget Office, PBO. Even excluding benchmark taxes, income taxes, the PBO estimates a basic tax expenditure cost at over €5 billion in 2016, rising from €4.7 billion in 2014. These estimates are based only on 2016 data and data for some of the largest tax expenditures up to 2016 are still not available. In 2016, tax expenditures even on available figures comprised nearly 11% of total tax revenue or 9% of total voted expenditure.

Just before I left my office to come to the Dáil, I heard that the 2017 report was finally published but why is it not produced as part of the budget book? Many of us looked for it yesterday in the expenditures report but it was not there. What is the cost of the 2017 tax expenditure and the projected costs for 2018 and 2019?

Unlike 14 other EU states, there is no legislative requirement here for regular parliamentary debates and scrutiny of tax expenditures. There is also the added difficulty that we get the figures for the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance and the Department's reports, which I have studied closely and which are very incomplete even going back to 2014.

The scale of these expenditures is indeed vast. For example, the research and development tax credit cost €670 million in 2016; capital acquisitions tax, CAT, agricultural relief cost €141 million in 2017; film relief cost €87.6 million in 2015; a range of reliefs supporting business cost nearly €560 million in 2015 and share-based remuneration relief cost €74 million in 2016. I think that is in today's report. Many of these expenditures have never been reviewed or assessed and the majority of taxpayers, our people, are still paying out for several pre-crash tax relief and avoidance schemes. The PBO rightly asserts that tax expenditures "represent a departure from the equity principle of taxation" giving rise to rent-seeking behaviour by favoured taxpayers.

The PBO also comments on the "fiscal illusory effect" of tax expenditures when they are perceived as a tax cut when they are actually spending increases. Will the Taoiseach accept the key recommendations of our PBO for systematic ex ante reviews of all tax expenditures, a definitive list of all Irish benchmark relief measures and all tax expenditures, enhanced costing methods and much improved access, availability and transparency of data on these expenditures? Will he legislate, perhaps in the finance Bill, to place this responsibility with the PBO and with the Committee on Budgetary Oversight, chaired by his colleague, Deputy Colm Brophy?

The Deputy is a little fuzzy in his political history when he suggests that this is the twelfth budget-----

I saw the Taoiseach walking into lobbies and, in the previous Dáil, the Fianna Fáil Deputies were trooping in behind him. Does he not remember?

The Deputy is a little fuzzy in his recollection in talking about this being the twelfth budget. It is the third of this Government involving Fine Gael and Independents under the confidence and supply agreement. The previous five budgets before those were introduced by Fine Gael and Labour. The Deputy was in that coalition briefly but I am not sure if he ever managed to vote for a budget. I certainly do not think that he ever will.

I voted for an amendment last night.

I am sure he was briefly part of that Government, at least until it came to the point of having to make a difficult decision.

I am sure he will spend many years in this House but he will never have to vote for a budget. For the people who like that sort of politics, that is the sort of politics that they like.

The Deputy is in and out like "Lanigan's Ball".

Tax expenditures are there for a reason. Sometimes they are a good idea and sometimes they are a bad idea and they have to be regularly reviewed. They have to be justifiable. One of the most expensive tax expenditures we have is mortgage interest relief. We allow people to offset some of their income tax against the cost of their mortgage. That was introduced to promote home ownership and to help people pay their mortgages. Hundreds of thousands of people around the country have benefitted from that over the years. Not taxing child benefit is also a tax expenditure. We took a decision as a Government that we would not tax child benefit as income and that was designed to help parents out with the cost of looking after their children.

If a carer or a nurse is hired to look after an elderly relative in one's home, that can, again, be offset against income tax. That is also a tax expenditure. We have some for business as well. The employment and investment incentive, EII, scheme, which replaced the business expansion scheme, BES, is designed to encourage people to invest in business and, thus, create jobs. There is one for film as well which has been hugely successful in bringing films to Ireland and creating jobs all over the country. There is also one for workers' expenses. If a person working in a particular job needs certain uniforms and equipment, he or she can offset that cost against income tax. There used to be one for trade union subscriptions. I imagine the Deputy would like to bring that back. Some people want to bring one in for rent again. The research and development tax relief is intended to produce research and development. There is also a very expensive relief where we do not require people to pay capital gains tax if they sell their family home. That recognises that the family home is something very particular in Ireland. If a family home is sold, there is no capital gains tax on that; it is not treated as an investment property. When tax expenditures are spoken of, they need to be talked about in the round and it must be understood they are all there for a reason. It must, of course, be a good reason and they must be regularly reviewed and amended.

Returning to the Taoiseach's earlier remarks, I hope, and it is still my ambition, to be a member of a left-led Irish Government. I will take whatever decisions have to be taken then. I believe that will happen. I am fully aware of the socio-economic reasons for many tax expenditures. The issues I am raising relate to definitions, costings, transparency, above all, and systematic evaluation, including sunset clauses. I refer to yesterday's presentation. We did not get it in the budget book. That is unacceptable and the Taoiseach will agree with that. We have got to have the full picture and the full statistics for our constituents.

The EU Commission, a few years ago, examined tax expenditures throughout the Union and stated they amount to a non-negligible share of GDP in almost every EU member state. It ranged from small percentages of GDP such as 1% or 2% in France and Germany, to between 9% and 11% in Ireland, Italy and the UK. We seem to be one of the highest outliers. Does the Taoiseach or his Government ever intend to have a target cap on expenditures and, if so, within what range? The Taoiseach did not answer me in respect of the figures for 2017 because he does not know them. Nobody in this House knows them because the costings have not been done. Can we set up a system of accountability and perhaps insert it in the finance Bill? The Committee on Budgetary Oversight and the PBO have been among the great successes of this Dáil in respect of ex ante evaluation and working closely with all the agencies.

I thank Deputy Broughan. He is way over his time.

Will the Taoiseach legislate and give us responsibility to do this so that in next year's budget we will have a fair idea of where all of the money is going?

I call the Taoiseach to conclude please.

I do not have any plans to legislate on this but I imagine that the Department of Finance is able to provide that information to the Deputy by means of a parliamentary question. I assume the Department of Finance has-----

I have asked questions but there are no answers. It is murky and we are in the dark.

Please let the Taoiseach answer.

-----estimates as to what the tax foregone is from any particular tax expenditure or tax incentive.

The Taoiseach is in the dark.

The Commission on Taxation examined all of them and had a detailed view on each of them although that was a number of years ago.

It was 2009.

We need a permanent commission.

That can be done in respect of sunset clauses. When we reduced VAT for the tourism and hospitality sector, we indicated that it would only last for three years, although that was not written into the law. When there is a sunset clause, however, we always come under pressure to extend it anyway. I am not sure how effective they are. I would not have a sunset clause when it comes to exempting child benefit from income tax or exempting the sale of a family home from capital gains tax.

That is not what I was talking about; I was talking about technical measures.

I would be concerned if that was the type of policy that Deputy Broughan was putting forward-----

It is not and the Taoiseach knows that it is not.

-----and a threat would be put in law that at a certain point we are going to start taxing people's child benefit.