Tax take up by €600m in first four months
There has been a significant improvement in the public finances in the first four months of the year, but Finance Minister Michael Noonan has warned of further tough budgetary measures.
Exchequer figures show the Government was in the red by almost €10bn in the first four months, a worsening of €3bn compared with last year, but accounted for by a payment in March to Anglo and Irish Nationwide.
Three of the big four taxes - income, corporation and excise taxes - have outperformed expectations between January and March, though VAT delivered less than expected.
A sign of higher savings, DIRT is now delivering more than expected for the Government. Income tax recorded a strong performance last month for the first time since the crisis began.
Significant taxes year on year are up by nearly 7% or more than €600m, showing the Budget Day measures have now fully kicked in.
Spending by Government is down by €500m on last year.
The Finance Minister has described the figures as "better than on track" but warned the pain was not over yet.
He said: "We cannot continue to spend more than we earn - this is simply not sustainable," he said.
The cost of servicing our debt has rocketed by nearly €1bn to €2.7bn for the first four months of 2011.
