
Tax take to end of April up 15% on same time last year
Tax receipts for the first four months of the year are up 15.3% on the same time last year, the latest Exchequer Returns from the Department of Finance show.
Today's figures show that the tax take reached €28.6 billion at the end of April.
When once-off tax revenues from the Apple tax case are excluded, underlying tax receipts of €26.8 billion are up by 8.3%, the Department of Finance added.
The latest Exchequer figures show that income tax rose by 7.5% to €3.5 billion in April compared to the same time last year.
April is not a key month for corporation tax receipts and just €0.1 billion was collected in the month, a fall of €0.1 billion compared to April last year.
On a cumulative basis, receipts of €4.9 billion were up by €2.2 billion in the four months to the end of April on the same time last year. When the Apple funds are excluded, cumulative corporation tax receipts to the end of April amounted to €3.2 billion, €0.5 billion ahead of the same time last year.
Today's figures show that excise duty receipts rose by 13.2% to €0.6 billion compared to April 2024, while excise receipts to the end of April amounted to €2.1 billion, an increase of 8.3% on the same four month period in 2024.
April is also a non-VAT due month and receipts in the month of €0.3 billion were down slightly on the same month last year by €38m. Cumulative receipts of €7.9 billion were ahead by 6% for the four months to the end of April.
The Department of Finance also said that Stamp Duty receipts of €613m were collected in the four months to the end of April, up by €119m on the same time last year, while Capital Gains Tax receipts amounted to €412m, an increase of €152m on the same time last year.
The Department of Finance today reported an Exchequer surplus of €2.8 billion for the four months to the end of April. This compared to a deficit of €1.2 billion recorded in the same period last year.
It said that when receipts from the Apple tax case in the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling are excluded, the underlying Exchequer position was a deficit of €0.5 billion, an improvement of €0.7 billion on the same time last year.
Today's figures also show that Exchequer spending to the end of April totalled €35.8 billion, consisting of gross voted and non-voted expenditure of €33.1 billion and €2.7 billion respectively.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Irish Times
Does Ireland's hospitality sector really need a VAT cut?
Tánaiste Simon Harris may yet come to regret the elevation of a manifesto commitment to cut the rate of VAT charged on hospitality to the level of 'solemn promise' as he did this week at the National Economic Dialogue. Manifesto commitments can be discarded quite easily, especially when part of a coalition. Solemn promises not so much. The already tenuous argument for promoting the needs of the hospitality sector over all the other Budget Day supplicants can only get weaker as the summer unfolds and the twin threats to the global economy of Donald Trump's tariffs and the conflict between Israel and Iran unfold. The idea is strenuously opposed by the Department of Finance which came out against it in the run-up to last year's budget. Officials noted that it represented an 'enormous fiscal transfer of taxpayers' money to the sector which the evidence available at present does not support'. READ MORE Their opposition is unlikely to waver this time around. The central plank of their argument – that employment and prices in the sector are growing strongly despite a number of high-profile restaurant closures – remains robust. The Labour Force Survey for the first quarter of the year was published last month. It showed that the numbers working in accommodation and food services activity – which is seen as the relevant category for hospitality – reached 186,000, up almost 7 per cent on the first quarter of 2024. The most recent inflation figures – for last May – show that restaurant and hotel prices are rising faster than prices in the economy as a whole. They rose by 2.8 per cent over the past 12 months compared with 1.7 per cent for the consumer price index overall. The department will no doubt point to the continuation of the trend of rising employment levels and falling prices in the sector despite the levying of the standard VAT rate when the issue comes up for discussion over the summer But the indications are that their entreaties will fall on deaf ears and the Government will be swayed by industry lobbying rather than hard facts at a cost of €790 million to taxpayers.

The Journal
15 hours ago
- The Journal
Never mind the spin - Ireland isn't close to ‘breakeven' on the €21 billion AIB bailout
Paul O'Donoghue GOOD NEWS – WE'RE up on our big investment! 'What investment?' you cry. Why, the Great Bank Bailout investment, of course! You see, during the week the state sold its final shareholding in AIB. It was once assumed that a lot of the cash poured into the lender was a sunk cost. It turns out, that isn't the case. The government said during the week that, once everything is factored in, AIB will come extremely close to repaying its bailout. Some €20.8 billion was put into the lender during the financial crisis. The government so far has gotten back €19.8 billion. Eventually, the total recovered amount will likely rise to just over €20 billion. Multiple media outlets reported during the week that AIB will end up about '€700 million shy' of repaying the state. Essentially, coming very close to breakeven. This is based on calculations provided by the Department of Finance. The department said when you look at the bailout money collectively put into AIB, Bank of Ireland (BOI) and PTSB, 'the state is €0.6 billion above break-even on its €29.4 billion investment'. All of that sounds great. But it doesn't give the full picture. Here's why. A LUAS tram passes in front of AIB headquarters. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo The debt To cut a long story short – the government's figures don't take debt servicing costs into account. When the Irish state poured €29.4 billion into those AIB/BOI/PTSB during the financial crisis, it borrowed money to do so. This debt costs money to service – quite a bit. Let's start with AIB. As stated, the AIB bailout cost was €20.8 billion. The Comptroller and Auditor General (basically the state spending watchdog) previously estimated that, as of the end of 2021, debt servicing costs on the AIB bailout amounted to €7.1 billion. That amount is on top of the €20.8 billion – so straight away, the actual AIB bailout cost goes to €27.9 billion. And interest is still being paid on that money. In a statement to The Journal , the organisation said the report, published in 2022, 'is the most recent report the C&AG has published on this issue'. But as some interest would still have racked up between 2022 and now, it's likely the final AIB bailout cost, when debt servicing is included, is well above €28 billion. With this in mind, we asked the Department of Finance how taxpayers are €0.6 billion 'up' on the AIB/BOI/PTSB bailouts. A spokesman said: 'The figures are based on a simple cash in, cash out basis. We have never included debt servicing costs over the last 10 years of tracking these figures.' Advertisement Asked why debt servicing costs are not included, the spokesperson said: 'It [the Department] doesn't include debt servicing costs, which are under the remit of the NTMA'. The NTMA (National Treasury Management Agency) is the Irish agency which manages the state's assets. Let's think about that for a minute. The Department of Finance doesn't include the billions in debt servicing costs – which are real costs – because counting this is handled by a different state agency. Does that sound like a good reason to ignore billions in taxpayer funds spent? It would be one thing if profit and loss wasn't mentioned at all. But by saying taxpayers are actually in profit on the AIB/BOI/PTSB bailout, the Department's claims paint a misleading picture. Let's take a quick look at debt servicing costs for the three main banks. As of end 2021, the most recent figures available: AIB: €7.1 billion BOI: €0.7 billion PTSB: €0.7 billion That's an additional €8.5 billion. So rather than taxpayers being '€0.6 billion above break-even', we'd actually be about €8 billion down. Not even counting the additional debt costs paid since the end of 2021. It's also telling how the Department chose to highlight the 'investment' into AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB. It didn't mention the other two lenders we bailed out 'invested' in at the same time. This pair, of course, was Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide (INBS). Between them, they received bailout funds of €34.5 billion. The state has recovered about €1.1 billion of that amount. The remaining €33.4 billion is officially deemed an 'unrecoverable sunk cost'. Anglo and INBS were merged into a new state-owned entity called the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), which is trying to get anything it can back for taxpayers. So it's perhaps understandable why the Department would prefer to forget about these two when talking about how well we are doing on our banking 'investment'. Let's do a quick rundown of where things actually stand when looking at the Irish state's banking 'investments' – when including debt servicing costs. AIB – loss for the state. Likely in the region of €8 billion BOI – profit. Approximately €1.4 billion PTSB – state still holds 57% stake, currently valued at €600 million. State will likely finish at a loss of about €1 billion. Possibly less, depending on how much it ultimately sells the shares for. IBRC – loss. Likely in the region of €35 – €40 billion once all costs are included. Briefly returning to AIB. Seeing as the Department of Finance consistently refers to the bank bailouts as 'investments', it's worth briefly considering them as such. If someone invests €20.8 billion in 2010, and receives a payout of say €20.8 billion in 2025, how did they fare? Well, you *could* say they broke even, on a 'cash in, cash out' basis. But in reality, they lost money due to inflation. €20.8 billion in 2010 is worth the same as about €27 billion in today's money. And that's on top of… something… oh yeah, billions in debt servicing costs! How do we keep forgetting those pesky charges? When the government continuously forgets them as well, it can be hard to remember! We're down billions None of this is necessarily to say that bailing out the banks was the wrong move. The Irish state got something valuable for the AIB bailout. It ensured one of the country's main lenders didn't collapse. It also got a decent amount of the bailout money back in the end. At least, from AIB, PTSB and BOI. Likely a good bit more than was expected during the crash. That's all fine. So why can't the government be happy with that, rather than trying to spin that we are around 'breakeven' on our AIB 'investment'? To its credit, AIB's statement on its return to private ownership didn't make any mention of the state's 'return on investment'. So if AIB hasn't tried to claim this, why has the government? Put simply – the government is trying to spin that taxpayers got a return on the bank bailouts. Three of them, at least. But we didn't. Even on those selectively-chosen three bailouts, we're down billions and billions of euro. When the government is trying to rewrite history, it should be called out for it. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal

Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Why the State ‘breaking even' on AIB and the banks isn't the whole story
The Government has sold its remaining stake in AIB, marking the end of a long, unloved chapter in banking history. The Department of Finance says the State has made a surplus of €600 million on its €29.4 billion bailout of AIB , Bank of Ireland and PTSB . Some media reports refer to the State basically breaking even, but such phrasing conceals more than it reveals. Firstly, the headline figure is in nominal terms. Adjusted for inflation, the real value of that €29.4 billion – doled out between 2009 and 2011 – is far higher. A euro in January 2011 is worth €1.29 today, which puts the cost of the bailout at roughly €38 billion in today's money. Then there's interest. The State borrowed to fund the bailout. For AIB alone, the Comptroller & Auditor General put debt servicing costs at €7.1 billion by the end of 2021. READ MORE That's before you factor in opportunity cost: what else that money could have done, were it deployed differently. An investor who bought a dud stock in 2009 and finally got out at break-even might feel relief. However, a $1,000 investment in the S&P 500 in 2009 would be worth over $9,000 by 2025. Time has a cost; so does tying up capital in low-return assets. Inflation, interest costs, opportunity costs – the framing around the break-even point is problematic. It is more of a psychological concept than a financial one. To be fair, the objective was never to turn a profit. The bailout was about stabilising the banking system and preventing economic collapse, but that makes the implicit 'we made money' narrative all the more grating. It reframes an emergency rescue as a shrewd investment, which it wasn't. Breaking even offers closure, but it's no triumph.