Since 2020 we’ve become accustomed to budget day packages exceeding €10 billion. Budget 2024, to be delivered on Tuesday by Michael McGrath, will be different. This extraordinary amount of spending has been fuelled by money pouring into the exchequer at unprecedented rates.
The total annual tax take has gone from just shy of €50 billion in 2012 to €83 billion last year. Beyond the emergency economic spending brought on by the pandemic, some of this ...