Government Income
- Government income is more commonly referred to as revenue.
Revenue From Taxation
- Taxation is the government practise of collecting money from the individuals and businesses in a country to pay for public services.
- Tax is the government's main source of revenue.
- It is collected by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.
The Irish government receives revenue from the following taxes:
- Income tax: tax paid by employees on their income.
- Value added tax{VAT}: tax on goods and services.
- Deposit Interest Retention Tax{DIRT}: tax on interest earned from deposit accounts.
- Corporation tax: tax on company profits.
- Customs duty: tax on goods imported into Ireland from outside the EU.
- Excise duty: tax on certain items such as cigarettes and alcohol.
- Motor tax: tax paid by car owners.
- Local Property Tax{LPT}: tax on the market value of all residential properties.
Government Expenditure
The main areas of government expenditure are:
- Social welfare.
- Health.
- Education.
- Transport.
- Tourism.
- Agriculture.
- Public sector wages.
- Debt servicing.
The government does not always have enough money for everything it wants. Due to this, they must decide what is the most important and make choices. The government must carefully look at its choices and the impact they will have on society and the environment. The expenditure that is not chosen when the financial decisions are made is called the opportunity cost.