Mr. Pascal Saint-Amans:

I will give my personal assessment or view based on my experience at the OECD for the past four and a half years. This is due to the crisis and it is a political issue. The crisis has brought up the need for more transparency in governance all around the world. I remember the Irish Government was very active at that time, and still is, in fighting bank secrecy for tax purposes. That was the first layer of pressure.

We cannot buy out our financial industry - and I understand this is something that is very sensitive in Ireland - while this industry is facilitating tax fraud. In other words, we cannot put taxpayers' money on the table to buy out banks which facilitate tax evasion through their counterparts located in secretive jurisdictions. This triggered all the work, including that of the G20, on putting an end to bank secrecy for tax purposes.

Tax avoidance is the second layer. It is hard for elected governments across the world - and I am talking to politicians who understand these things better than I do - to explain to their people that they have to increase direct and indirect taxes. Over the past three years, VAT has increased in 25 out of 33 OECD member countries. The US does not have VAT. Personal income tax has increased almost everywhere. I understand that personal income tax has increased quite significantly in Ireland.

Therefore, governments have to explain to the public that they are cutting expenditure and increasing taxes. Meanwhile, media campaigns explain that some large, profitable multinationals have an effective tax rate which is dramatically different from the statutory tax rate of the countries where they operate. That includes Ireland where the corporation tax rate is 12.5% while the effective tax rate of some such companies is between 3% and 5%. Therefore there is a political problem because it is hard to explain that this is the unintended outcome of an outdated international tax architecture, which has facilitated double non-taxation.