9/9/2014: iPhone 6 Dilemma for Ireland?..

And so it comes... the iPhone 6 is about to be launched, and Apple has a major dilemma. Hype in the market suggests bumper sales for the new phone. But sales mean profits. And profits, for Apple, mean growing a pile of cash stashed in off-shore locations, including Ireland that the company can't do much with. Get the dilemma? The Guardian did: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/07/apple-iphone-6-cash-pile-tax-avoidance-us?curator=MediaREDEF.

I covered this earlier: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2014/06/2562014-imf-on-corporate-tax-spillovers.html as well as within the context of the overall position of Ireland as a corporate tax non-haven (you can track the topic from the links starting here: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2014/08/2682014-betting-on-corporate-tax.html).

Lest we forget: in the last 12 months through Q1 2014 (the latest for which data is available), Irish economy shipped out EUR26.678 billion in net factor payments abroad (these are, roughly, profits paid out to foreign entities out of Ireland, net of profits from Irish investments abroad). In the same 12 months period of 2012-2013, the amount was EUR28.517. Which means that in the 12 months through Q1 2014, cash repatriation out of Ireland was EUR1.839 billion lower than a year before. This contributed positively to our GDP. But our GDP over the same period rose by EUR1.953 billion. So if profits repatriation was running in 12 months through Q1 2014 at the same rate as in 12 months through Q1 2013, our GDP would have risen not by EUR1.953 billion (+1.13%) but by EUR114 million (+0.07%).

Let's take a look at Apple, again: the company has USD140 billion worth of cash stashed around the world, with much of this - by various reports between USD60 and USD90 billion via Ireland. Take a lower envelope and start repatriating... there can be a risk of a serious recession in Ireland were this to happen.

Ah, all the worries of the FDI-rich Ireland, the best little country to do tax business from...

15/5/2013: What IMF assessment of Malta has to do with Ireland?

Here's an interesting excerpt from the IMF Article IV conclusions for Malta, released today (italics are mine):

"In the longer term, regulatory and tax reform at the European or global level could erode Malta’s competitiveness. The Maltese economy, including the financial sector and other niche services, has greatly benefitted from a business-friendly tax regime. Greater fiscal integration of EU member states and potential harmonization of tax rates could erode some of these benefits, with consequences on employment, output, and fiscal revenues."

Now, Ireland is a much more aggressively reliant on tax arbitrage than Malta to sustain its economic model and has been doing so for longer than Malta. One wonders, how come IMF is not warning about the same risks in the case of Ireland?


Another thing one learns from the IMF note on Malta: "The largest banks will be placed under the direct oversight of the ECB from 2014. The MFSA should work closely with the ECB to ensure no reduction in the supervisory capacity of these banks."

Wait, we've all been operating under the impression that direct oversight from ECB is designed to increase quality and quantity of oversight. Quite interestingly, the IMF is concerned that it might reduce the currently attained levels of supervision.

Economics 16/08/2009: A tax too far?

Here is a nice one from the Sunday Papers. Sunday Times "In Gear" supplement is featuring tow different cars: a Devon Motorworks GTX, 8,354cc V10 650bhp super-car that goes 0-60 in 3.5 sec and costs £300K (pages 4-5) and Mazda MX-5 1,999cc 4-cylinders, 158bhp ordinary bloke/gal car, priced at estimated €37,000 pages 14-15. Guess why am I writing about them?

Well, Devon's in the UK road tax band M, which sets you back £405pa, or €470.06pa, Mazda is in Ireland's rod tax band E, which sets you back €630pa.

Assuming that

• a 'sensible' consumer would tend to purchase a car for about 7-12% of their income;
  
• hold it for 7-10 years;
• sell at the end of the holding period of 50% or 20% of the value, then
  

the following table shows just how close our road tax policy comes to highway robbery:
Yes, you are reading it right -

• a buyer of a small middle class car in Ireland will pay between 1.4 and 2.1 percent of their annual income per annum in road tax;
• a buyer of a large super car in the UK will pay between 0.14 and 0.315 percent of their income in annual road tax.

And I know what you are going to say - the UK is closer to meeting its Kyoto Protocol commitments than we are, and it has better roads than we do.

Where is our National Consumer Agency in all of this? Oh, well, busy counting Government payoffs for staying quiet on the rip-off culture of our public policies...