[QUOTE=“TreatyStones, post: 1101090, member: 1786”]More than €6.7bn in tax revenue was collected by the Department of Finance in the first two months of the year - €345m (5.4%) ahead of Budget forecasts.
The figure represents a €925m (15.9%) increase on the same period of 2014, with the tax take higher in all major categories.
This has put the Exchequer deficit at €205m by the end of February - compared to an almost €1.68bn deficit at the same time last year.
In the first two months of the year the Exchequer took in almost €2.9bn in income tax – up €183m (6.8%) on last year.
In the month of February alone the figure was ahead of profile by €91m (7.1%).
VAT receipts stood at €2.37bn by the end of last month – up €330m (16.2%) year-on-year. On a monthly basis, tax take from VAT was €40m (11.3%) higher than had been expected in Budget 2015.
Corporation tax take, meanwhile, has seen a significant improvement on an annual basis, rising by €174m to €265m.
This is also significantly higher than had been forecast – though the Department notes that around €50m of this relates to one-off, non-recurring payments.
Excise duties were up €130m (20%) year-on-year at €778m, with the February figure alone coming in €52m (15.3%) ahead of target.
Meanwhile stamp duty receipts were up €45m (42%) year-on-year at €152m.
The Department of Finance said it had received €115m in Local Property Tax by the end of February – which was up €58m on the same period of last year – though it attributed this to a change in payment deadlines.
By the end of February, overall net voted expenditure was €172m (2.4%) lower year-on-year at almost €6.9bn.
This was largely due to a €238m reduction in spending at the Department of Social Protection, though it was offset slightly by a rise in capital expenditure at the Departments of Defence, Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Education and Skills.
Non-voted capital expenditure was €190m lower year-on-year at €611m, due to a reduction in temporary loans to the Social Insurance Fund.
Non-voted current expenditure was almost €100m higher, however, at €675m due to Local Property Tax receipts being transferred from the Exchequer to the Local Government Fund.
Meanwhile the country’s debt servicing costs stood at €591m by the end of last month – representing a €128m (17.8%) decrease year-on-year.[/QUOTE]
if ever a government deserved to be returned to power and yet our idiot voters will on all polls evidence toss them out
My thoughts exactly. One particularly bad break up could see Blaise disappear into a tub of Haagen Dazs I’d say.
