Event Details

ESRI Research Seminar "The Role of Housing Benefits within the Irish Tax Benefit System"

Venue: The ESRI, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2

Date: 26/02/2009
Time: 4 pm

Speaker: Philip Hayes, Combat Poverty Agency, RERC Teagasc, National University of Ireland, Galway.

Since the mid 1980’s there has been a set of tax-benefit reforms that have focused on poverty alleviation and work incentives. However during this period the component of the tax-benefit system relating to housing has remained neglected until recent times. This can be attributed to the relative unimportance of the policy with recipient numbers low in the late 80’s to mid 90’s. However due to house price inflation since the mid 90’s there has been a dramatic increase in housing benefit recipients. This paper examines the main changes in the structure of Irish tax and social benefits, paying particular attention to housing benefits, over the period 1987-2007. It analyses the evolution of the redistributive forces of the system over the period and considers the effect of the incremental reform on the complexity of policy and resulting impact on incentives.

No booking required. All welcome.