Firstly I argued that the article you referenced did not illustrate what you suggested it did. You havenāt responded on that point so I assume you accept that you misread it or misinterpreted it. The article presented absolutely no basis for arguing that Ireland had a more progressive overall tax regime than other OECD countries. It simply compared Irelandās tax system with 1 other. Itās on that basis that I attacked the report. Itās dangerously ambiguously written (as evidenced by your misinterpretation of it). It starts off comparing Ireland to other OECD countries but quickly changes the comparison to just Finland. Presumably that helped the author make his point. Either way it makes for crap academic or policy writing and it discredits the piece entirely.
In summary, a deliberately ambiguous and misleading article that in actual fact proves next to nothing about Irelandās tax rate in comparison to other OECD countries.
You seem hung up on proving that Irelandās overall tax regime is progressive. I havenāt argued that point with you. I do find it odd that you think itās reasonable to exclude the bottom 3 deciles. The whole objective of a progressive tax regime is to protect the poorest. You are arguing that we have a progressive tax regime, apart from the bottom 30%. Thatās a bizarre argument to be relying on.
Weāve done very well at eradicating poverty among the top 70% of earners in the country. Wow.
By the way, there are very few countries in the world that donāt have some element of progressive tax regime. That might be why youāve been unable to prove that Irelandās tax system compares favourably with those of other countries, beyond the report you already produced and which says nothing of the sort.
āThe evidence suggests that the total tax system in Ireland is among the most progressive in the OECDā
The author bases that upon the fact that the direct tax system is amongst the most progressive which has been measured by the OECD. Do you accept that?
When it comes to indirect taxes (which by their nature can be regressive) their seems to be much less data comparing countries but the initial report suggested Ireland is better positioned apart from UK/Malta than most due to its zero VAT on food. Do you have data to suggest that Ireland is significantly more regressive than other OECD countries on indirect taxes that would overcome the progressive nature of the direct taxes?
The report also comments on the point I made about Expenditure vs Income in the bottom 3 deciles.I donāt think the bottom 3 deciles should be excluded. I think that itās an odd situation and should be examined more and I was suggesting it was due to the way it has been measured i.e. Gross income vs Expenditure. Thereās very little policy from any party about this though it would seem,
