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Tax take down E77m at end Feb

Monday, March 04 17:02:29

Exchequer returns for the two months to the end of February out today show that the overall tax take fell by E77m or 1.3pc compared to a year ago while the exchequer deficit came in at E936m compared to E2.1bn a year ago.

The Department of Finance said that much of the fall in tax is attributable to one-off factors which are discussed in more detail below. For the month of February, tax revenues amounted to E2,042 million, a decrease of E186 million (8.4pc) on the same month in 2012.

Income tax for the month was E123 million (9.1pc) down on February 2012. This is primarily due to the PRSI/income tax reclassification, which inflated income tax last year by c. E150m. On an underlying basis, income tax receipts were up 2.5pc. On a cumulative basis in the year to date, headline income tax is more or less flat year-on-year.

Corporation tax recorded 8.9pc year-on-year growth in February. On a cumulative basis, corporation tax decreased by 60.6pc year-on-year. However, this reflects the impact of the delayed payment of E251 million in corporation tax receipts from December 2011 into January 2012. Adjusting for this late payment, corporation tax recorded year-on-year growth of E10 million (6.8pc).

Excise duties, at E650 million at end-February, recorded year-on-year growth of E10 million (1.6pc). When compared to February 2012, excise duties for the month decreased E20 million (5.6pc).

VAT, the last of the "big 4" tax-heads, recorded cumulative growth of E49 million (2.6pc) year-on-year and an increase of E33 million (16.3pc) on a monthly basis. Taken with the positive core retail sales observed in recent months, the continued year-on-year growth of VAT is encouraging, the Department said.

Stamp duties recorded receipts of E40 million, a decrease of E3 million (6.1pc) on February last year and Capital Gains Tax was down E72 million (60.7pc) for the month.

On the spending side, net voted expenditure for end-February 2013 were E7,288 million. This represents a year-on-year decrease of E206 million (2.8pc).

Net voted current expenditure decreased E110 million (1.5pc) to E7,049 million to end February 2013 while Net voted capital expenditure at the end of February 2013 amounted to E239 million, which compares to E334 million for the same period last year, a decrease of 28.8pc.