Sir, – I was surprised to read Paddy Gogarty’s claim (September 6th) that VAT returns in the latest Exchequer figures are down 27 per cent against target, and my first instinct was to respond with a letter criticising him for getting the facts wrong. However, after checking the article from which he quoted (Business, September 4th), it turns out that it is in fact your paper which is wrong, and Mr Gogarty can’t be blamed for responding to what he read.
The article states that “VAT (€6.8 billion) was 27.7 per cent behind target at the end of the period”, but the Exchequer’s VAT target for end-August was €7.045 billion, meaning that by end-August VAT was a far less apocalyptic 3.5 per cent behind target, as part of Exchequer figures that show overall receipts, in all categories, to be 3.8 per cent ahead of this time last year, and just 0.2 per cent behind target for this year. – Yours, etc,
JOHN SHEEHAN,
Finnstown Priory,
Lucan, Co Dublin.