{"id":674994,"date":"2026-11-04T19:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T19:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674994\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T19:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T19:34:12","slug":"record-e85bn-tax-take-as-government-spending-continues-to-climb-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/674994\/","title":{"rendered":"Record \u20ac85bn tax take as Government spending continues to climb \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government<\/a> collected a record \u20ac85 billion in tax<\/a> in the 10 months to October but spending continues to rise at a worrying rate.<\/p>\n

The latest exchequer returns, published by the Department of Finance<\/a>, showed total tax revenue stood at \u20ac84.9 billion at the end of last month.<\/p>\n

When receipts from the Apple tax<\/a> case are stripped out, the total was \u20ac7.9 billion or 10.3 per cent ahead of the same time last year.<\/p>\n

The strong performance was led by income tax<\/a>, which generated \u20ac31 billion for the 10-month period, 8.4 per cent up on last year, reflecting the high level of employment.<\/p>\n

Government coffers were also buoyed by strong corporate tax<\/a> receipts, which took in \u20ac23.9 billion, 23.4 per cent ahead of last year.<\/p>\n

The concentration of corporate tax receipts around a small number of US multinationals remains a significant risk for the exchequer. <\/p>\n

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In 2025, just three firms \u2013 Apple<\/a>, Microsoft<\/a> and Eli Lilly<\/a> \u2013 accounted for 46 per cent of receipts from the business tax.<\/p>\n

October is not a VAT<\/a>-due month and only \u201cmodest\u201d receipts were collected during the month, but on a cumulative basis, the sales tax generated \u20ac20.5 billion, 7.3 per cent up on the 2025 total at this stage. <\/p>\n

Total gross voted expenditure to the end of October amounted to \u20ac93.6 billion, which was 7.4 per cent up on last year.<\/p>\n

\"\"British Ambassador to Ireland Kara Owen on current Anglo-Irish relations, trade opportunities, and the possibility of a Brexit reversal<\/p>\n

The Government has come under pressure to rein in spending and save more of its corporate tax windfall.<\/p>\n

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council<\/a> has warned there will be close to \u20ac2 billion of overruns in this year\u2019s figures compared with what was forecast last year.<\/p>\n

Much of the overrun total stems from an overspend in health. <\/p>\n

In a bid to rein in spending, the Government has adopted a new spending framework that pledges to keep the annual lift in expenditure inside a 6 per cent threshold.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s exchequer figures reflect an economy that is continuing to perform well, despite the external challenges and headwinds facing us both domestically and globally,\u201d Minister for Finance Simon Harris<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe continued strength of our economy and public finances has given us the capacity to support families and businesses through Budget 2027<\/a>, as well as allowing us to invest in our public services and take important steps to safeguard our future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time of considerable global uncertainty, it is more important than ever that we manage our public finances responsibly,\u201d Harris said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why, on budget day, I announced that an additional \u20ac1 billion in tax receipts, above and beyond what is required by law, will be transferred into the Future Ireland Fund next year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers<\/a> said: \u201cThe increase in expenditure to end-October reflects the Government\u2019s commitment to strengthening public services.\u201d<\/p>\n

On corporate tax, Orla Gavin, head of tax at KPMG Ireland<\/a>, warned that some of the year-to-date corporation tax surge was expected to unwind in November. <\/p>\n

\u201cNovember will therefore be crucial in distinguishing timing effects from the underlying trend in corporation tax receipts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The department warned last month that some company payments expected this year would not now arrive until early next year.<\/p>\n

Sasha Kerins, tax partner at Grant Thornton Ireland<\/a>, said: \u201cThe resilience of the domestic economy is particularly noteworthy against a more difficult international backdrop, including renewed inflationary pressures across Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government collected a record \u20ac85 billion in tax in the 10 months to October but spending continues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14617,936,72,24463,1398,12250,1523,74516,61,17691,60,10297,13808,18040,1071,70,5066,11757],"class_list":["post-674994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apple-tax","tag-apple","tag-business","tag-corporation-tax","tag-department-of-finance","tag-eli-lilly","tag-government","tag-grant-thornton","tag-ie","tag-income-tax","tag-ireland","tag-irish-fiscal-advisory-council","tag-jack-chambers","tag-kpmg","tag-microsoft","tag-simon-harris","tag-tax","tag-vat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}