Corporation tax increased by 18% last year to €28bn – Department of Finance
Corporation tax increased by 18% last year to €28bn, according to the latest Exchequer Returns from the Department of Finance.
When €11bn, which has been raised so far from the Apple tax case, is included in corporation tax figures the total was €39.1bn.
But the Department of Finance has warned that Ireland can not continue to rely on the “exceptional” taxes from a small number of highly profitable multinationals to fund future spending.
The Exchequer Returns for 2024 show the Irish economy continues to perform strongly.
Income tax was up 6.6% on last year at €35bn which indicates the jobs market remains healthy.
There were also signs of strong consumer spending with VAT receipts of €21.8bn, up 7.3% on 2023, while excise duties were €6.3bn – a rise of 12%.
Overall there was an exchequer surplus of €12.8bn in 2024 but when the €11bn from Apple is excluded the surplus was €1.8bn.
Total revenues last year were €108bn up €20bn on 2023, including €11bn from Apple.
The Department of Finance warned that Ireland faced a “high vulnerability” in relation to some of the tax receipts.
It added: “A small handful of large, highly profitable firms are not a sustainable tax base on which to build permanent spending commitments.”
The Department of Finance said: “The headline surpluses in prospect over the next number of years are highly reliant on ‘windfall’ corporate tax receipts.”
But it said it had invested some of the proceeds of windfall taxes in two long-term investment funds.
“The Irish economy has consistently proved its resilience despite nearly a decade of economic and geopolitical turbulence,” said Tom Woods, head of tax at KPMG. “Notwithstanding this, the current scale of geopolitical and economic uncertainty calls for substantial investment to address the national infrastructure deficit.
“It is critical that we use a portion of the tax surpluses to urgently tackle infrastructural challenges to secure current and future waves of business investment and position us for future economic and societal prosperity.”
Asked about the potential impact of Donald Trump’s policies on the public finances, Minister for Finance Jack Chambers acknowledged they were being taken into account in hovernment formation talks.
“Tariffs, protectionism and deglobalisation all present significant risk to the Irish economy and we need be cognisant of that for any spending plan,” he said.
He added the government was putting “windfall receipts aside to protect Ireland’s economy in the long term and make sure we have sustainability of the public finances.”
Article Source – Corporation tax increased by 18% last year to €28bn – Department of Finance – RTE
