Google has strongly warned against any corporate rate tax increase, saying that a move to increase business costs would damage Ireland’s competitiveness.
“Anything that impinges on Ireland's competitiveness is going to be a big thing for Google, including corporation tax," Google Ireland boss John Herlihy told the Irish Independent.
"And anything that increases the cost-base of a business is negative for competitiveness."
There has been speculation that the European Union will demand Ireland change its tax rate from 12.5 per cent to much higher in line with other EU countries.
At 12.5pc, Ireland’s company profit tax is one of the lowest in Europe, and now, many countries, including France, Austria and Italy, are calling on Ireland to increase it in return for an IMF/EU bailout
The low Irish corporation tax rate has long been the envy of other European countries with rates as high as 30pc, such as France.
Intel and the American Chamber of Commerce have echoed Google’s sentiments.
Government ministers have said that the tax rate would not be touched as part of negotiations for financial support from the IMF/EU, but opposition parties are worried.
"A low corporation tax rate is a cornerstone of Ireland's economy, and will play a crucial role in rebuilding the country,” said Fine Gael party leader Enda Kenny.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.jacersagain | Nov 28, 2010, 07:32 PM EST
maloney – you are talking baloney. Irish people sustained Germany’s economy while its robbers were attacking them in the early noughties. Get real... Germany owes Ireland big... and very bigly.
maloney | Nov 23, 2010, 05:55 PM EST
It will not be up to the Irish, you took the money. Watch & see.
jacersagain | Nov 21, 2010, 06:19 PM EST
Lookit – this argument is going nowhere. It is written into European Law that each constituent country of the EU is solely at freedom and responsible for its own tax imposition decisions. Ireland does not instruct or coerce Germany or France on their own countries’ tax decisions - it does not have a right to do so. Neither will we in Ireland accept any other country telling us what to do.
killowen | Nov 21, 2010, 05:00 PM EST
Those with the gold can wreak havoc on nigh any society that they target - then having a well educated Irish workforce and the give-away inducements by Irish politicians - "no nothings about business, turkeys" - easy pickings by American scheisters. Here they threaten their victim to continue gaining favor for them, knowing full well they will be punishing Irish natives. Ruthless - that how capitalism works and US companies are at the top of that food chain.
LoyalCitizen | Nov 21, 2010, 04:09 PM EST
@seamusmoore: You will have to explain CPA. US tax codes have nothing to do with Irish tax systems. I never mentioned the Americans Property Bubble. Intel in Ireland received over 10 Billion Euro's in direct cash subsidies, plus god knows how much in tax breaks and other freebies, which means they got their manufacturing set up for free and did not need customers. Intel management received inflated salaries in Ireland, which allowed them to speculate with property in Ireland and never pay taxes on property because of non domicile rules. Over all i would guess that American Corporations received over 2 hundred Billion in cash subsidies and maybe a trillion in tax breaks in the last 30 years in Ireland. This story is about Ireland not America, but i guess you have something similar in America.
seamusmoore | Nov 21, 2010, 02:49 PM EST
Hey I am a CPA, I know the US tax code very well and could tell what things in the US tax code led to our real estate bubble. You intimate that "nobody truly knows all of the tax breaks being dished out", obviously neither do you then. How does Intel building a plant to manufacture microchips in Leixlip have anything to do with your real estate bubble? Intel came to Ireland (as opposed to England) primarily for 2 reasons: 1)no tariffs on goods sold in Eurozone if they were manufactured inside the Eurozone; 2)12.5% corporate tax rate. Intel is in the MICROCHIP business, not the real estate business. Your bubble happened because Ireland gave up control over interest rates when it joined the Euro, it no longer had a Central Bank to help manage the irish economy. The ECB was more concerned with the slow growth economies of Germany, France and Italy (80mm, 62mm and 44mm people) than Ireland (4.5mm); hence, a discount rate which allowed Ireland to be flooded with cheap money. The Financial Regulator of the banks was not only asleep at the wheel, but it INSANELY permitted banks to issue 110% mortgages. Therein lies the creation of Ireland's property speculators and their ruinous and reckless borrowing.
LoyalCitizen | Nov 21, 2010, 12:50 PM EST
@seamusmoore: As you have pointed out, you clearly do not know the full set of tax breaks and subsidies that American Corporations and their Management received. I do not think that anybody truly knows all of the tax breaks being dished out. With the amount of tax breaks that went into property speculation in Ireland, it provided enough opportunity for subsidised Americans Management to make a fortune and not pay any taxes on the profits. Further increasing the amount of money being fleeced out of Ireland.
seamusmoore | Nov 21, 2010, 11:34 AM EST
LoyalCitizen Please define what "other non domicile rules" means in relation to the irish tax code? I do know that Microsoft cheats other govt's of Europe out of tax revenue by running all their revenue thru a "shell office" in Dublin to get taxed at 12.5% instead of 35%. Of course, this arrangement benefits Ireland at the expense of others; need to worry, though, the terms of the EU bailout will be a 35% tax rate.
haikued2 | Nov 21, 2010, 11:09 AM EST
So some comments seem to think that American companies in Ireland are bad for Ireland. Have you talked to the young people working for those companies? There is plenty of room for Irish owned high tech companies...just raise some capital, get some smart guys with creative ideas and go for it. Nobody should have to hold your hands. Any incentives given to companies like Yahoo or Facebook to come to Dublin were to create jobs...that has happened. It also helps create an environment for start ups. Stop bitching and take the step as an entrepreneur.
haikued2 | Nov 21, 2010, 11:04 AM EST
PLEASE, listen to Google. They have it right. Margins are slim for small and medium businesses, too, and taxes are a cost that takes away reinvestment dollars. Reinvestment dollars create new jobs. NO NEW TAXES.
LoyalCitizen | Nov 21, 2010, 11:02 AM EST
I wonder what your view on non domicile rules is worth or other tax breaks. The Irish corrupt tax systems guarantee's that they collect 12.5 percent of nothing already.
seamusmoore | Nov 21, 2010, 10:57 AM EST
Indigenous Irish companies? Yeah, like Baltimore Tecnologies (RIP). Your rhetoric makes you sound like President Patrick Hillery who suggested that Jack Lynch send in a commando team from the republic to protect the nationalist community during the Divis Flats riots in 1969. INDO columnist Kevin Myers hilarously described the Irish forces at that time: Irish Air Force: an FCA corporal in a tree with a long rope. Get real, will you: the irish govt desparately needs revenue to solve its fiscal problems. Don't know if you were a math major but 12.5% of something will always yield more tax revenue than 35% of nil (you are probably a soccer guy, so you know that nil is NOTHING)
LoyalCitizen | Nov 21, 2010, 10:16 AM EST
Maybe its time to shut down pretentious subsidised American Corporations in Ireland and set up indigenous high-tech companies. Having so many free loading American Corporations has always denied Irish people the possibility of starting their own companies.