Are parties taking risks with their election promises?

Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil have set out their stalls, dangling extensive tax cuts to win voters.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald's plans would benefit the less well-off and hit the wealthy.

Fine Gael's Simon Harris and Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin are aiming to help those on middle incomes. We covered what the plans mean for individual taxpayers here earlier this week.

Fine Gael’s reduction in taxation would cost the Exchequer €7bn, Sinn Féin’s €6.4bn and Fianna Fáil’s €4.5bn over the next five years.

These are very large cuts which funnel more money into an economy already bursting at the seams.

The big question is where will the funds come from to pay for the tax cuts?

The three parties have explained how they would raise taxes on other areas to pay for the cuts in Universal Social Charge and tax credits.

However, the danger is that some of these plans may not yield as much as the parties think.

The plans are, of course, influenced by some ideology - for example, Sinn Féin’s includes a "pollution tax on private jet departures".

Ms McDonald’s party also wants to introduce a 3% "solidarity tax" for those on incomes over €140,000, remove tax credits for higher earners and scrap a special tax relief for executives from abroad who come to work in Ireland.

These measures would raise a total of €1bn.

Sinn Féin also wants a charge on second homes of €400 and to reduce tax relief on pensions for higher earners to generate €776m.

The party also plans to increase stamp duty on investors bulk buying homes, commercial property transactions and share purchases to raise €346m.

Sinn Féin wants to phase out the Help to Buy scheme, and increase tax on cigarettes and the betting levy to bring in €387m.

It wants to restrict banks from using their considerable losses during the financial crash to offset their tax bills and plans to raise more money from the banking levy.

As well as this the party also plans to tighten a PRSI exemption available to employers to raise €162m.

Sinn Féin, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil all hope to generate about €500m from additional clampdowns by the Revenue Commissioners.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have broadly similar plans for raising taxes.

Both parties will hit smokers and gamblers.

They plan to generate €50m from increasing betting taxes from 2% to 3%.

Fianna Fáil will add €1 to a packet of 20 cigarettes every year to raise €350m and Fine Gael will make a packet 75 cent more expensive annually to generate €265m.

Both parties hope to collect €85m from an additional levy of €2.50 on vapes.

The former government parties are also anticipating raising more from carbon taxes and expect that further economic growth will generate more income for the Exchequer.

All three parties however plan to use the €14bn of Apple taxes towards capital spending.

Sinn Féin proposes investing a massive €41.8bn in capital spending over the coming five years.

In contrast, Fianna Fáil plans to spend €21bn and Fine Gael €18.9bn.

Despite a much higher level of capital spending, Sinn Féin says it will have a surplus of €15bn by the end of 2030.

Fianna Fáil predicts a surplus of €6bn by the end of the next Government while Fine Gael says it will run a cumulative surplus of €32bn over the five-year period.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are also committed to significant investments in two large funds for future capital spending while Sinn Féin says will use its surplus to pay into the funds.

Read the latest stories from the 2024 General Election

Then there are the big items which do not feature in election manifestos.

None mention the fact that Ireland is facing a bill of €8bn or possibly more from the EU for missing its climate targets in 2030.

Another fundamental risk is Ireland’s heavy reliance on corporation tax paid by US multinationals, as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.

The US President-elect plans to reduce US corporation taxes to the same levy He plans to reduce US corporation taxes to the same level as Ireland and introduce tariffs on imports from the EU.

Both of these events could have drastic consequences for the flow of foreign direct investment to Ireland and tax revenues paid to the State.

None of the parties are curtailing their spending plans because of the changing situation in the US.

That can wait until after the election.