Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 130: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether the high dependence of the Government on tax receipts from property and consumption means that any contraction or downturn in these sectors is liable to leave the Government in a vulnerable position. [10179/07]

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 171: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the high dependence of the Government on revenue generated from taxes related to property and consumption. [10182/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 130 and 171 together.

The main consumption related taxes are VAT and excise duty. Taken together these two tax-heads are forecast to account for almost €21 billion or 43 per cent of total tax revenues in 2007 compared to the 44 per cent and 46 per cent of actual taxes they accounted for in 1997 and 1987 respectively. Construction impacts on a number of tax-heads, most notably capital taxes such as stamp duty and capital gains tax but also VAT and to a lesser extent income tax, PRSI receipts and corporation tax.

While revenues from construction related taxes such as stamp duty and capital gains tax have made an increasing contribution to the Exchequer in recent years, we are not overly reliant on receipts from these sources. For example, taken together the stamp duty and capital gains tax tax-heads are forecast to contribute around 15 per cent of total targeted tax revenues in 2007. In contrast, the 4 main tax-heads — VAT, income tax, corporation tax and excise duty are forecast to account for 84 per cent of tax receipts this year.

Care has been taken not to plan the public finances around an assumption that receipts from stamp duty and capital gains tax will continue to grow in future years as they have in the recent past. This is a prudent and sensible approach to take and it has been endorsed by the IMF and other commentators.