The State collected €14.04 billion across January to April this year, €1.17 billion more than last year and €475 million (3.5%) more than forecast by the department.
The bulk of the tax revenue came from Income Tax which was €6.1bn with €4.16bn from VAT. Excise Duty accounted for €2bn, which has been significantly boosted by strong car sales.
Non-tax revenues increased €1.94bn in the opening four months of 2016 from €0.4bn in the same period of 2015. This growth is largely due to the timing of the receipt of €1.8bn of Central Bank surplus income this year.
Key figures were up on the same period last year, however the Department of Finance cautions that “there were some significant one-off and timing factors, which have helped flatter the April tax position”, most notably the Central Bank surplus.
Ireland is expected to grow faster than any other economy in Europe for the third straight year in 2016. Ireland forecast last week that its deficit would fall to 1.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) by year end.
Source: www.businessworld.ie