Changes to the income tax code in recent budgets “echo the motivations” of budgets in the run-up to the collapse of Ireland’s public finances in the late 2000s, the Central Bank of Ireland has warned, and might similarly weaken the “robustness” of income tax receipts. According to the research, there has been little change in the average tax rates for single-person taxpayers at both ends of a €10,000 to €300,000 annual earnings range since 2013. Listen | 38:18“In particular, average tax rates at higher incomes, from where a large share of income tax is collected, have seen little change,” it said. The Central Bank warned that “past experience” in recent Irish economic history “highlights the risks of discretionary reductions to the tax base and effective income tax rates in general, or to readjusting the tax code excessively across the income distribution in favour of the lower paid”. Actions such as these can “weaken the robustness of income tax revenues,” it said, adding that tax policy generally needs to take account of the “strong growth” in government expenditure in recent years.

Source: The Irish Times December 04, 2025 16:44 UTC