Irish Commission on Taxation and Welfare, 2022

A Commission on Taxation and Welfare (the Commission) in Ireland was established in 2021 and reported in 2022 on reform of the Irish taxation and welfare systems. This note considers the political backdrop to establishing the Commission, its terms of reference and its recommendations for reform. The process of generating the wide-ranging recommendations is considered, including the high level of agreement within the Commission as to the necessity and content of reform. The Commission was convinced that taxation would need to rise materially and made 116 recommendations for reform, mainly in the areas of capital, wealth and consumption. The note concludes with some observations on the Commission as a forum for discussing tax reform, including the argument that the very breadth of the consensus on reform stifles a more nuanced view and hides the trade-offs necessary in translating broad objectives into law.