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

The policy of the Government and the previous Fianna Fáil Government is and was to dance to the tune of the multinationals in how we design the tax code. That is not right. The amount of tax they pay on their profits is shockingly low and obscene compared to the amount ordinary workers must pay and we should seek more from them. Our proposal is to charge them 12.5% as a minimum effective tax rate and specify that allowances or deductions would kick in only after they had paid the 12.5%. God almighty, 12.5% is a pretty low level of tax for them to pay on their astronomical profits. However, even 12.5% is not low enough for these companies and we are giving them a mechanism by which they can pay half of it, which is what they have been paying through other mechanisms. It is no coincidence that the figure set for the KDB is 6.25%. According to EUROSTAT, 6.25% is approximately what these companies are paying. We are establishing a system which will ensure they will not have to pay any extra tax. We should be asking them to pay a little extra.

This will come back and bite us all. If the Minister of State walks down to the Liberties area where Guinness is based, he will notice that Guinness built houses for its workers, parks, swimming pools and other infrastructure. It was not a sublimely progressive or benevolent entity. It made a lot of money for itself, but it understood that, in order for it to make profits and sustain its business, it had to contribute something to the infrastructure and give the employees who made its profits for it houses, basic sanitation levels, etc. These multinationals do not think they have such responsibilities. However, they rely on our infrastructure and need our educated workforce. We are running into a problem, whereby the lack of affordable accommodation in the city may become a disincentive for the multinationals to locate here.