Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Cody and his team. It is good to engage with them again. I thank them for the information they provided in advance of the meeting. Mr. Cody referred to the net revenue collected by the Exchequer, which amounted to €67.5 billion in 2021 and rose to €87.2 billion last year, an almost €20 billion increase, which underlines the strength of the economy. I should say the headline strength of the economy, given there are underlying challenges, as we know, internationally and in various other quarters. As Mr. Cody did at the end of his statement, I thank the Revenue Commissioners for their professionalism, dedication and engagement with taxpayers. He referred to the debt warehousing scheme and I am conscious, as all the members of the committee are, of the letters that have issued over the past while and the flexibility and payment arrangements that are being afforded to the vast majority of companies where possible.

We have engaged previously on the local property tax, and Mr. Cody said there were changes to the tax bands announced in 2022, which is welcome. Revenue has had responsibility for the collection of the property tax since 2013, when it was introduced, and the sum collected is relatively consistent, at about €470 million per annum, a considerable proportion of which comes from my constituency, Dún Laoghaire, and the greater Dublin area. As part of the changes that were introduced in 2022, more than 100,000 previously exempt or non-liable properties were brought into the LPT system. Some people may have thought there would be an increase or uplift in the tax take at that point, but Revenue customers with payment methods fell between 2022 and 2023, with the compliance rate also dropping, as Mr. Cody said, from 97% in 2022 to 95% in 2023. It is estimated at about 80% for 2024, I think it is correct to say although, obviously, we are not yet through the year. What is being done to engage with those customers who have yet to pay or file and does Revenue have an indication of why compliance rates are falling? Is that Revenue's perception of how it will pan out for 2024?