Vol. 501 No. 2
35 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Finance if he will revise his forecast for tax receipts for 1999 in view of the buoyancy of taxation in January 1999; and the estimates of the budgetary surplus at year end without taking into account any receipts from sales of State assets. [5325/99]
On budget day the Department of Finance forecast an increase of 7.7 per cent in tax receipts for 1999. This was based on an expected outturn of £16,093 million for 1998. The actual outturn for 1998 was £16,129 million, £36 million higher than expected. This additional buoyancy is expected to be carried into this year.
Cumulative tax receipts in January are 11.8 per cent higher than the corresponding period last year but these do not as yet reflect the impact of most of the budget day changes. At this stage it is not our intention to revise our forecasts on foot of data for the month of January. As usual, I will be issuing a detailed statement on the Exchequer returns at the end of the first quarter.
