Professor Philip Lane:

The taxation of particular types of loans is a particular issue. The broader point is about Ireland's tax arrangements being brought into question at European level, and Christine Lagarde of the IMF also made a speech on the subject last night. It is a global issue. One dimension of it is that tax is not available to developing countries. The question of what is a fair and sustainable way to tax corporations in advanced economies, so that they do not end up paying too little tax by using legal structures, has also been asked. Ireland has to be part of the discussion. There is an OECD framework, which is nearing the stage when it will reach some conclusions, and we should wait to see what comes out of that. There was a digital tax debate in the EU last year but it did not conclude because of the fact that it is a global issue. This partly reflects the changing nature of world business. In my academic research, which I have maintained to a degree, I have found an increasing role for multinational firms in the global financial system with superstar firms making huge profits. How we tax them is a global issue.

There are some interesting issues with funds and we will publish some more work on them fairly soon.