Government claims that Ireland is not a corporate tax haven are “patent nonsense”, says People Before Profit TD – Dáil investigation needed.
Ireland is a tax haven – facilitating massive tax avoidance, financial speculation and dangerous “shadow banking”.
In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, Finance spokesperson for People Before Profit/United Left Alliance has rubbished Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore’s denials that Ireland is acting as a tax haven to facilitate corporate tax dodging by major multinational companies.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said a Dáil investigation, similar to those which have taken place in the US and Britain, into corporate tax avoidance and the corporate tax regime generally, was urgently required.
Deputy Boyd Barrett’s statement comes in the aftermath of the latest revelations from the US Senate committee that corporate giant Apple has used Ireland as base to avoid paying billions in corporate tax.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said also that Minister Gilmore’s claim that Ireland’s corporation tax regime was “very transparent” was “utterly ridiculous,” when the revelations about one of the Apple subsidiary’s based in Ireland (ASI) showed the company had only paid 0.2% in tax to the Irish state on €22 billion in profits.
Following on from the successful Walk in the Woods at Avondale House in Wicklow, with over 4000 people showing their opposition to the Government’s plans to sell off Coillte harvesting rights, the Natural Resources Protection Alliance and the Woodland League have called a protest at the dail.
Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit TD and organiser of recent demonstrations against the sale of Coillte harvesting rights will attend the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee this afternoon where Impact will be giving evidence on the proposed sale of harvesting rights.
