Fiscal revenue down 10 billion euro due to the corona crisis
During the first half of 2020 the Exchequer has seen fiscal revenue fall by almost 10 billion euro. The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is the cause in the sharp fall in the amount raised from taxation. This is bad news for the Federal Government. Before the onset of the crisis in March it had predicted that fiscal revenue would rise by 1.5 billion euro this year compared with 2019.
The Federal Finance Department’s Francis Adyns told VRT News that “During the first 6 months of the year we have seen a fall of 9.9 billion euro. While in that period last year we raised 56.7 billion euro, this year it was just 46.8 billion euro”.
This is a 17% fall in revenue. It is not hard to find an explanation. "We have seen a fall in revenue from all types of taxation that are connected to the economy and how it is performing. When shops, restaurants and bars are closed people consume less so there is less income from VAT. This was down 2.8 billion. So there is a clear link with corona, but this is not the only explanation”.
In addition to this companies have been given the possibility of delaying part of their tax payments. This is revenue that the Exchequer will receive latter this year. "As regards payroll tax we started to see a rise again in June. However, we are not going to recuperate all of the shortfall. In any case it won’t be a good year for fiscal income”, Mr Adyns added.