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At the heart of the Irish economy has always been the philosophy of tax competitiveness. On the cranky left, that is very annoying; I can see that.

Foreign investors like decisiveness; they like clarity. There isn't any confusion about Ireland's corporate tax rate: it is 12.5%. End of story.

The key to revenue growth is tax reform that closes loopholes and that is pro-growth. Then with a growing economy, that's where your revenue growth comes in, not from higher taxes.

Tax increases appear to have a very large sustained and highly significant negative impact on output.

The economy in Ireland has been rampaging ahead for the last 15 years. Barring an international, political or natural catastrophe, things can only get better for the Irish.

Reduced marginal tax rates on individuals and business fosters growth every time.

You don't get gushers of revenue by raising tax rates. You get it through expansion.

You don't get an economy growing by raising taxes.

Our estimates suggest that a tax increase of 1 percent of GDP reduces output over the next three years by nearly 3 percent. The effect is highly significant.

Tax increases slow economic growth. Why would you raise taxes? We need to reform spending, the tens of trillions of unfunded liabilities can never be funded by tax increases, that can only be fixed by reducing spending.