Which counties pay the most in taxes and which sectors are bankrolling the State?

Tomas Doherty

Cork generated more tax per person than any other county in 2024, overtaking Dublin thanks to an €11 billion windfall from Apple.

The State's highly concentrated tax base has been revealed in new data that breaks down how much each county contributed last year.

The figures from Revenue include receipts from income taxes, corporation tax, capital gains tax and VAT in each of the 26 counties.

More than half the income tax and VAT in 2024 was generated in Dublin, while more than 50 per cent of the record corporate tax take last year came from Cork.

When these tax receipts are analysed per head of population, Cork comes out as the county that generated the most tax per person, followed by Dublin. Westmeath is ranked third on this metric mainly due to the almost €1.5 billion in income taxes generated there.

The 2024 figures are skewed somewhat due to corporation tax receipts from Cork-based Apple, which soared last year as a result of a one-0ff European court ruling.

Cork was responsible for €21.4 billion of the State’s record €39 billion corporate tax haul last year, which included €11 billion of the Apple tax money, plus the iPhone maker’s annual corporate tax liability for 2024.

The tech giant's Cork campus serves as its European headquarters and employs over 6,000 people. The company is the biggest payer of corporate tax in the Republic.

Dublin was responsible for €14.1 billion of corporate tax in 2024, meaning Dublin and Cork combined made up €35.5 of the €39 billion total in business tax receipts collected last year.

A similar pattern is seen when the tax receipts are broken down by industry.

The wholesale and retail trade sector generated the most tax in 2024 at €26.4 billion, though this was again mostly due to the €11 billion in one-off taxes from Apple.

In 2023 the sector generated €2.7 billion in corporation taxes – by 2024 that had ballooned to more than €14 billion.

The manufacturing sector is usually the greatest contributor to the State's finances, thanks to the large technology and pharmaceutical industries – in 2024 the sector generated €14.6 billion in taxes, of which €9.4 billion was corporate.

This tax bonanza won't be repeated again in 2025. Figures from the Department of Finance this week showed growth in the State's underlying tax revenue for the first five months of the year slowed to 3.6 per cent.

This was due to a sharp dip in corporate tax receipts in May that the department said was due to one-off factors from a year ago falling away.

Corporate tax receipts were 9.4 per cent lower year-to-date at the end of May, even when excluding the Apple back taxes.

The department forecasts corporate receipts, excluding the Apple proceeds, to post an annual decline this year and fall back by 2 per cent. Growth elsewhere is expected to push overall tax receipts 3 per cent higher on an underlying basis.

Growth of 4.5 per cent in income tax receipts and 5.5 per cent in VAT so far this year has kept that forecast on track.

An underlying exchequer surplus of €0.7 billion in May was broadly similar to a year ago.