Tax take on target as revenues beat expectations

Michael Noonan has expressed confidence that this year’s tax take will meet expectations after figures for the first six months of the year showed revenues were €507 million ahead of target.

The Department of Finance had expected the tax take to the end of June to have reached €16.5bn. Instead, it exceeded €17bn — 3.1% above expectations.

Income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax were all ahead of expectations, but stamp duty was below target, reflecting the continuing weakness of the property market.