Rising tax revenue leads to call for rise in spending

The Government took in €2.74bn in tax revenue in February — €44m ahead of target — despite both corporation and income tax receipts coming up short of expectations.

However, despite February officially being a non-due month, Vat receipts were strong with €503m being collected. That performance was aided by lower-than-expected repayments. Vat revenue is now almost 17% up, on an annualised basis, in the year to-date and is over 8% ahead of target.

Despite improving employment levels, last month saw just over €1.48bn received via income tax payments — 6% under target. For the first two months of the year, income tax receipts are down 0.4%, year-on-year.