Negative growth to hit tax take

THE latest national accounts figures have put pressure on the funding outlook for the budget as the economy recorded its second successive quarter of negative growth.

They show two quarters of falling economic output in the first half of 2008, placing the economy officially in recession.

One of the big imponderables is how the Government’s taxes will fare in a worsening domestic and global economic climate and indications so far this year suggest the implications for tax income are alarming.