Stock Market Chaos Could Cost Irish Government Dear

by Philip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

23 July 2002

There are fears in Ireland that the current chaos in the world's stock markets could cost the Exchequer more than 1 billion euros in lost capital gains tax and stamp duty receipts.

Reporting on the international crisis of confidence, the Irish Sunday Independent revealed that amongst analysts: 'there are real concerns that the expected government yields from capital gains tax and stamp duty will be whittled down to zero'.

In his budget speech, Finance Minister, Charlie McCreevy forecast that these two taxes on investment would bring in some 2.1 billion euros. However, current estimates suggest that the actual figure is likely to be less than half of that figure and if recent stockmarket trends continue, collection could fall still further.

The newspaper also suggested that the global shares trend is likely to have an adverse impact on the domestic investment scene, in that multinational investors may become more cautious unless the Irish market recovers its momentum soon.

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