Department defends tax receipt estimate excesses

THE Department of Finance has defended its inability to accurately predict the amount of money flowing into the State coffers.

On budget day every December, the department publishes estimates of the following year’s tax receipts. The estimates are prepared with the assistance of the Revenue Commissioners.

But in recent years, the estimates have proved spectacularly wrong. In 2004, the department predicted total annual tax receipts of €41.65 billion, but the forecast was wrong by more than €3.8bn, as the Exchequer actually pulled in €45.53bn.