Should Ireland agree to the 15% Multinational Corporation Tax Rate?

There is also a difference between Ireland and many other places that used low corporation tax as an economic development strategy (e.g. Hong Kong, Estonia, Singapore, Netherlands, Luxembourg, some Swiss cantons and Israel). They treated the resulting inflow of corporate investment a bit like an oil boom (lucrative but inevitably temporary) and used the proceeds to build up a world class infrastructure that would keep them economically attractive after corporation tax reform. By contrast, in Ireland successive governments were betting on Ireland's corporate tax regime going on forever while squandering much of the proceeds, leaving the country in a much more serious long term position than many politicians are willing to admit.
 
Last edited:
We haven't really reformed how the State is run since the Brits left. That's why we need to blow our windfall taxes on current expenditure.
 
joe sod said:
Judging by this it looks like the US guys were resolving alot of the bugs if you were handing it over to them the whole time, this shows the brains of the US multinationals by and large still reside in the US.
Click to expand...
The US guys and gals were resolving all of the bugs in this particular case, but I wouldn't draw too many conclusions about the whole model from one project for one person. There were also dev teams in Ireland and India, but I just happened to deal mostly with the US teams.
 

The firm would get a credit in the USA for any CT paid abroad.
 
Noam Chomsky does not agree with our tax policy

Noam Chomsky: ‘Ireland has robbed poor working people of tens of trillions of dollars’

The 92-year-old author on US foreign policy and Ireland’s immoral tax regime
www.irishtimes.com

You’ve had some strong words about the Irish taxation system, particularly as it applies to offshore companies. You described Ireland as a tax haven. What do you think we should do about that?

“Cancel it. Ireland, for its own benefit, has robbed poor working people around the world of tens of trillions of dollars. Huge quantities. Take the world’s first trillion-dollar corporation, its headquarters are in Ireland, [which] means it doesn’t have to pay US taxes. One of many gimmicks by which the very rich can rob from the poor. Ireland wants to be part of that? Your choice. I certainly don’t approve of it.”
 
Not sure what Chomskys point is.
The US was richer than Ireland when we introduced our lower tax rate. So werent we the poor robbing the rich?
If they were taxed in the US how would the poor be any less robbed?
And arent the extra profits taxed for dividends when they are ultimately repatriated...

I think Chomsky should stick to his area of expertise in languages.
 
I think that as Chomsky gets nearer to meeting his maker he's attempting to make himself out to be a bit of a do-gooder. He now hopes to be remembered as one of the good guys, a bit of a Robin Hood. I'd pay as much heed to him as I would to a dying wasp. Neither have any further use and he knows it too. Hense, the attempted "shting"
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Ireland, for its own benefit, has robbed poor working people around the world of tens of trillions of dollars
Click to expand...
Ireland's cumulative GDP (even inflation adjusted) since the beginning of time has not been tens of trillions of dollars.

Ireland's corporation tax take will be $16bn or so this year. It's a lot of money, but nowhere near the sums he's talking about.
 
The hubris of the Yanks, who think the solution to their stupid taxation system is for other countries to change their systems.
Apple etc pay exactly as much tax in the USA as the American Government and Congress wants them to pay.
 
Purple said:
The hubris of the Yanks, who think the solution to their stupid taxation system is for other countries to change their systems.
Click to expand...
That's exactly it.

The US has been pushing this labelling of Ireland and other countries as "tax havens", which lazy journalism has followed enthusiastically.

It needs to look at its own taxation system which favours globalization & profit shifting to the detriment of its non-global domestic companies.
 
Last edited:
Interesting piece in todays Irish Times on Pascal's comments about negotiating the deal.
I've very glad he is Minister for Finance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register