Irish Government Must Widen Tax Base, Central Bank Warns

Ireland should broaden its tax base to ensure its budget protects long-term fiscal stability, the Central Bank of Ireland warned.

“The need to reduce the risks to the public finances from an excessively narrow tax base has become more immediate, given the reliance on corporate tax receipts from an excessively narrow tax base from a small number of multinational enterprises, which may be more vulnerable in light of geoeconomic fragmentation,” Governor Gabriel Makhlouf wrote in a pre-budget letter to the Irish government.

Ireland’s small, open economy has a strong fiscal position for now, with one of Europe’s few budget surpluses ...