Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 19 June 2019

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Fiscal Policy and Budgetary Planning: Discussion

Mr. Gerard Brady:

It could be significantly worse. It depends on the detail. We will lose a significant share of money. We are not as worried about that. It is something for this committee to worry about because we have five years to get our act together in how we pay for this.

The other pillar is the minimum tax proposal. It would effectively mean that there would be a global minimum corporate tax rate. If one paid 12.5% here and the global tax rate was to be 15%, other countries would have the right to reach into the Irish company to take out that extra 2.5%. In effect, it would mean the end of the attractiveness of the 12.5% rate. There is still much debate to go. It could end up being fairly benign if it is a low number, say less than 10%. However, we have heard numbers as high as 18% and 20%. There is still a long way to go but the big shift in the dynamic is that large countries want an agreement because the alternative is that countries will implement this unilaterally without an agreement. That would be even worse. We think there is significant risk but we have time to get ready for that. That means investing in innovation, education and small and medium-sized enterprises to rebalance the economy.