June’s Exchequer figures show that tax revenues in the first half of the year were €36.9 billion. That is €1.39 billion or 3.9 percent higher than profiled and €7.4 billion or 25 percent up on the same period last year. The 12-month rolling Exchequer surplus stands at €2.1 billion.
The breakdown of tax revenues is as follows:
- Income tax receipts were €14.3 billion to end-June, €67 million or nearly 0.5 percent over profile and nearly 17 percent higher than the first six months of 2021;
- VAT receipts to end June were strong at €9 billion, €175 million, or 2 percent higher than profiled and over 26 percent higher than to end-June 2021; and
- Corporation tax receipts of €8.8 billion have been received, €1 billion, or 13 percent ahead of profile.
Total gross voted expenditure to end-June amounted to €38.5 billion, €1.4 billion or 3.5 percent below the same period in 2021.
Commenting on the figures, the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, said:
“There is mounting evidence that the economic momentum that we had seen in the Irish economy since the easing of public health restrictions is now slowing. The economic impact of further disruption to gas supplies in Europe would have a negative impact on businesses and households across the country.
It is now imperative that we build more resilient public finances. The Government has acted with determination - and will continue to do so - to help support households over the past few years. However, the interventions to-date have come at a significant cost to the Exchequer.”
Today’s exchequer figures show that tax receipts remained robust in the first half of this year. The continued strength in income tax, in particular, is a positive signal of the recovery in the labour market. However, the strength of volatile corporation tax receipts provide an artificially positive picture of the state of the public finances.
It is also important to stress that today’s figures are, of course, backward looking. We expect economic activity and the public finances in the second half of this year to be negatively impacted by the war in Ukraine, the decline in real purchasing power and increased uncertainty in the international economy.