Taxation, Welfare and Pensions
Research examines the design of the tax, welfare and pensions system, with a focus on the effects it has on individuals, redistribution and incentives to work. Much of this work uses SWITCH – the ESRI tax and benefit model – to simulate the impact of actual or proposed reforms on households.
We estimate that introducing this payment would cost around €700 million per year, benefiting more than 100,000 households and reducing the share of children below the poverty line by a quarter.
The package of tax cuts, welfare increases, cost-of-living measures and indirect tax cuts has grown broadly in line with forecast wage growth of 4.2% for 2025, compared to the 2024 package.
Papers from the annual Budget Perspectives conference provide analyses of policy issues relevant to the upcoming Budget. The annual post-Budget analysis assesses the effect of changes to the tax and welfare system, including their distributional impacts.
Research examines the adequacy of retirement income, the sustainability of the pension system and proposed reforms to pension contributions.
A number of publications examine if tax and benefit systems in Ireland strike a balance between providing an adequate safety net to those who need it and maintaining incentives to take up employment.
