Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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246. To ask the Minister for Finance the total tax take to GDP according to the last calculable year; the European average; and if there is a shortfall the way he proposes the State move towards the average. [31266/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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While the most recent year for which complete tax figures are available is 2013 the last year for which comparisons are available at present on an EU wide basis is 2012.

The total tax take to GDP for 2012 is 28.7% and the EU average is 36.3%.

The primary reason for this difference is that the taxation structure in Ireland is primarily based on taxes rather than social security contributions (SSC's) which are significantly larger in other member states. SSC's represent 4.4 % of GDP (second lowest in the Union after Denmark), compared to an EU-28 average of 12.7 %.

Excluding SSC's the tax to GDP ratio for Ireland is 24.3% and in line with the EU average of 25.2%.

In addition, an alternative and more representative denominator to use in the case of Ireland would be gross national product (GNP) which is considerably lower than GDP. The difference between these two measures, the factor flow to/from abroad, is very large and negative. Other bodies including the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) have utilised a 'hybrid' measure in order to account for this divergence. Based on previous estimates, Ireland would have a tax burden in excess of the European average if GNP was used as a relevant base and just below the average using IFAC's hybrid approach.

As regards the current tax burden in Ireland direct taxation (particularly income tax) is currently considered to be quite high and makes up 45.6% of the total revenue figure. In terms of GDP, the shares of personal income taxes and corporate income taxes are in line with the EU-27 average and represent 9.7 % and 2.5 % of GDP.

Consequently, as the aforementioned analysis has shown Ireland's tax base is consistent with its EU counterparts and should be kept relatively stable in order to foster the strategy of growth and competitiveness within the economy while also moving towards the target of a balanced budget in structural terms.

(All statistical data sourced from Eurostat).