Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy more or less said that in saying that we should be careful about producing papers on it. Let us take it that the gap in the rates between us and comparable countries in Europe, indeed the majority of countries in Europe, including Britain with an effective rate of 24% or 26%, is as is suggested in the EUROSTAT figures. Britain is our nearest neighbour and probably our biggest competitor for US foreign direct investment as an English speaking country within the European Union. The idea that if we varied our effective rate by a few points there would be a massive migration to Britain of the investment currently coming to this country cannot be sustained because the gap in the rates between us and them would still be very considerable.

I am sure the Minister does not agree with that and clearly Fianna Fáil does not agree with it, but it does bear a proper analysis. Let us have scrutiny of this and let us get behind these companies' amazing allowances that see their tax liability written down to the extent that it is. Let us at least get to a point where we can agree on the effective rate. The figure the Minister quoted in his response to the question I asked on this, as one calculation of the effective rate at 11.9%, was introduced by the Adam Smith Institute. That is from where that figure came. The Adam Smith Institute has a particular bias in this regard because it does like high corporate tax rates. Of course, it will say effective rates are very high but EUROSTAT has indicated that our rate is half of the rate quoted. Let us have a serious analysis and debate on what is the effective rate and what would be the impact, extra revenue generated and overall effect on the economy of raising the rate. Then we can have an informed debate, but let us end the situation where corporate tax is a sacred that we cannot touch when everybody else is being hammered.