Last year’s budget surplus was €8.5bn, it has been confirmed, the largest since records began in the 1990s and similar to this year’s expected windfall. Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show the surplus was largely the result of an almost 50pc boost in corporation tax receipts last year, compared with 2021. The budget posted a small surplus in the two years leading up to the pandemic, but was in deficit in 2020 and 2021. Among them, corporation tax saw the biggest increase, rising 47.8pc, or €7.3bn, to yield €22.6bn. That is double the corporation tax take in 2019 and three times what it was in 2016.

Source: Irish Independent October 19, 2023 15:52 UTC