Revenue: Tax-free child benefit costs €500m a year

The tax-free status of child benefit is costing over €500 million per year, according to new figures from the Revenue Commissioners.

Child benefit is one of the few social welfare payments that is not taxed or means-tested, ever since it was introduced 75 years ago.

The Revenue’s latest tax expenditures report shows it could collect €554 million from some of the 605,000 families getting child benefit if it was subject to tax. This ...