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

I suggest to the Taoiseach that it is time for the Government to stop the big lie about corporate tax in this country and the claim that we are not a tax haven. The evidence is now mounting all around us that we are a tax haven, and that we are one of the worst culprits in facilitating multinational corporations and financial vultures to dodge their tax liabilities and obligations to contribute to the economies and societies which sustain them.

These greedy companies want it all. They want all the profits and do not want to make any contribution to the societies or citizens which help them generate those profits. The Government, and Fianna Fáil in its previous incarnation in government and now in opposition, continue to wish to facilitate these corporate tax dodgers. It is outrageous.

How can the Taoiseach claim that our corporate tax regime is transparent when a subsidiary of Apple makes €22 billion in profits and pays a tax rate of 0.2%, yet he maintains the patently ludicrous claim that we have an effective rate of 12.5%? He should give us a break. The facts are staring us in the face, in newspapers and media reports all over the world. The issue is being discussed in the United States Congress and in the British Parliament, yet the Taoiseach continues his denial. Everybody knows this country is a tax haven. When will the Government admit the truth that we are at the centre of a rotten financial and tax culture which is facilitating these corporate monsters in avoiding their tax responsibilities? We are getting next to nothing for our efforts, with only 0.2% in tax being paid out of €22 billion. It cannot be claimed, moreover, that this is merely an isolated case. Another multinational company which made €70 billion in pre-tax profits in 2010 paid only €4 billion in tax. I am sure the Taoiseach will do the maths and see this amounts to a rate of only 6.5%. Meanwhile, a subsidiary of General Electric in Shannon paid 0.1% of its pre-tax profits in tax to this State. This activity is rampant and the Government is facilitating it.

We are also up to our neck in shadow banking, which is a nice term for the facilitation of hedge funds engaged in massive speculation, precisely the type of speculation that is destabilising the global economy. We are making ourselves very vulnerable to global shocks if we continue to base our financial and economic stability and prosperity on this type of activity. We are now learning that in the United States, because of the recession caused by these types of activities, the Government is seeking to close down loopholes in the corporate tax system. That is absolutely the right thing to do and, if successful, it will have serious implications for the Irish economy. It makes the folly of the Government and Fianna Fáil all the greater in arguing that we should continue to facilitate these arrangements and protect our corporate tax rate. In other words, we should protect the right of super-profitable multinational corporations to pay no tax. What an appalling set of priorities from both the Government and main Opposition party. It seems there are no red lines when it comes to attacking the wages and conditions of workers and going after public services. Those targets must be allowed, apparently, but a red line is drawn when there is any suggestion of taking even a few additional percentage points from the multinational corporations or closing down the shadow banks. It is absolutely outrageous and it will blow back on our economy if the Government does not address it.

I have a simple question for the Taoiseach. When these matters are raised with him at the G8 conference or in any other encounter with the United States authorities, will he own up to the reality of the situation and undertake to do something about it? As it stands, he is anchoring the economic future of this country on a policy of tax piracy which is of no benefit to Irish people and is helping to destabilise the global economy.

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