"Taxes are not up to Google," Schmidt reiterated. "If the international tax regime changes we will follow. But virtually all American companies have structures like this; this is how the international tax regime works. The fact of the matter is if we pay more tax in one area, we pay less somewhere else."
Thus spoke Eric Schmidt of Google (http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-05/22/eric-schmidt-tax) and guess what: he is right. Google is not breaking the law. It is the law that allows for countries, like Ireland, to follow beggar thy neighbour economic policies and strategies.
The issue is not the low tax rate, but the fact that various loopholes allow companies operating - allegedly in Ireland - to channel revenues from other countries into Ireland. This is not about exports from Ireland, and it is not about low tax regime in Ireland. When an MNC books revenue earned somewhere else to Dublin, MNC is not break a law. Instead, Ireland is facilitating transfer of funds that relate to value added activity elsewhere to its own economy. This, in the nutshell, summarises the entire nature of Irish economic development strategy: take value added from somewhere else and appropriate it as Irish.
And in the spirit of usual weekly posts (see thread start on Irish Corporate Tax Haven here: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2013/05/1452013-corporate-tax-haven-ireland.html ): in this week, it is virtually impossible to list all Tax Haven Ireland links from around the world in a post, but here are some:
Thus spoke Eric Schmidt of Google (http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-05/22/eric-schmidt-tax) and guess what: he is right. Google is not breaking the law. It is the law that allows for countries, like Ireland, to follow beggar thy neighbour economic policies and strategies.
The issue is not the low tax rate, but the fact that various loopholes allow companies operating - allegedly in Ireland - to channel revenues from other countries into Ireland. This is not about exports from Ireland, and it is not about low tax regime in Ireland. When an MNC books revenue earned somewhere else to Dublin, MNC is not break a law. Instead, Ireland is facilitating transfer of funds that relate to value added activity elsewhere to its own economy. This, in the nutshell, summarises the entire nature of Irish economic development strategy: take value added from somewhere else and appropriate it as Irish.
And in the spirit of usual weekly posts (see thread start on Irish Corporate Tax Haven here: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2013/05/1452013-corporate-tax-haven-ireland.html ): in this week, it is virtually impossible to list all Tax Haven Ireland links from around the world in a post, but here are some:
- http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/eu-eyes-tax-residency-law-change-232325.html
- several listed here: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2013/05/26052013-ireland-hard-at-work-on-troika.html
- An important link from March 2013: http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1025752.shtml
- Noonan's feeble defence of the regime he claims doesn't exist: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/us-senate-committee-quoted-incorrect-tax-rates-for-apple-activities-here-d%C3%A1il-told-1.1404834
- And here is an 'official' admission that we might change that which, allegedly, does not need to be changed because it is not an 'Irish' problem: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/26/us-ireland-tax-reform-idUSBRE94P04820130526?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews
- Of course, the problem does not exist: http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0522/451805-tax-ireland-apple/
- But things are smelling of some smoke: http://www.euronews.com/2013/05/22/ireland-branded-tax-haven-ahead-of-eu-summit-on-tax-evasion/
- and the smoke ain't white: http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/22/ireland-were-no-tax-haven-but-yes-apple-did-pay-2-tax/
- Vincent Browne wades in with some good links: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/government-zealously-protects-the-wealthy-in-ireland-s-wild-west-tax-haven-1.1401752
- Recall Budget 2013 'Strategy' on Corporate Tax (betcha you didn't know we had this strand of thinking flowing through...) http://budget.gov.ie/budgets/2013/Documents/Budget%202013%20-%20Presentation%20on%20Corporation%20Tax%20and%20FDI.pdf
- IDA Tax 'Guide" from 2012: http://www.idaireland.com/news-media/publications/library-publications/ida-ireland-publications/IDA_Tax_2012.pdf you have to love Figure 3:
- Accountants' view: http://www.annebrady.ie/page6/page35/page91/page91.html Note that 'statutory transparency and uniformity' principle really is not what is being used as core discriptor of Irish regime...
- An interesting 2012 document from IAM on the value of tax regime to Ireland's capacity to attract FDI - as in tax being a singularly most important factor http://www.iamireland.ie/dashboard//upload/134522238057FDI_and_Tax_16th_August_2012.doc
- Jim Stewart's paper on Irish Corporation Tax regime: http://www.tcd.ie/iiis/documents/discussion/pdfs/iiisdp375.pdf This concluded that "The corporate tax rate in Ireland is often described at the ‘cornerstone’ of industrial policy. This paper argues that excessive reliance on tax reliefs and on the attraction/retention of foreign direct investment has led to the development of certain tax haven type features for the Irish economy. Tax haven type features are in turn at variance with the development of sustainable firms."
- CS Monitor article on Google and Apple cases: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2013/0521/Google-Apple-draw-transatlantic-ire-over-double-Irish-tax-haven
- Counterbalance from one of the few knowledgeable people on the subject: http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/peter-vale-five-reasons-why-ireland-is-not-a-tax-haven-29287879.html
I shall stop there, for now...
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