Ireland take hardline stance on corporate tax as bailout talks begin

[struggle4progress]

Source: Guardian

... On the day a dozen officials from the International Monetary Fund descended on the Irish capital, finance minister Brian Lenihan said the country would not surrender its investment-friendly tax regime as the Washington financial experts began their health check on the economy.

Prompting speculation that no quick deal was in prospect, the government sought to allay mounting public fears that Ireland would cede to demands from Germany and France to raise its 12.5% corporation tax – the lowest of any major European economy – as the price of a bailout.

Comments earlier in the day by French economy minister Christine Lagarde that the negotiations included a change to the tax regime had promoted an immediate backlash in Dublin. Deputy prime minister Mary Coughlan told the Irish parliament that the low rate of tax was "non-negotiable" even though the government conceded that it may need help to deal with what Lenihan called the "very big issues" in its debt-laden banking system.

Ireland's employers' organisation, the IBEC, backed the government. Director-general Danny McCoy said: "Any change in the corporate tax regime would be counterproductive to the collective efforts to reduce the budget deficit. Higher rates would mean less revenue for the state, as investment and jobs have the potential to move to countries outside the EU. This would not be in Irish interests or in the interest of the wider EU" ...

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/18/ireland-bailout-imf-europe-corporate-tax

[rAVES]

1. We are now serfs to the international banking cartel.

We didn't even last 100 years independent.

I'm fit to be tied right now.

[Raster]

2. And you are not alone. We all are serfs to the international banking cartel.

It's called class warfare -- the rich against everyone else -- and everyone everywhere gets to play.

[defendandprotect]

3. This is corporatism replacing sovereign governments .....