Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At the core of the discussion tonight is the principle of tax justice. I go back to November 2015 when the then Technical Group tabled a Private Members’ motion on this issue. Worldwide there is a lack of accountable and transparent tax systems. That lack is creating inequality and exacerbating existing inequality. We know that economic inequality is growing and with it inequalities in access to health care and education. There are many examples of tax injustice where millions and in some cases billions of dollars have been lost to countries through lack of transparency, accountability and poor governance. The big multinationals have played countries off against each other for years to ensure low taxes and therefore massive profits for themselves. In the November Private Members’ debate one statistic we knew was that Apple’s annual revenue was approximately 80% of Ireland’s GDP. I remember saying then that we were not sure what else would emerge about Apple. That is what we are facing now and we are asking questions of it.

When it came to Ireland first in 1980 how come Apple, which was then a final assembly and testing company, was able to secure a 10% tax rate as a manufacturing company when it was not manufacturing? At a recent US Senate committee meeting it was asked why it chose Ireland and it declined to comment. It did say, however, that the paperwork from that period in 1980 had been lost. There are questions to be answered in order to get to the truth and, as the proverb goes, we should not be afraid of that truth.

The Government has chosen to take on the European Commission over this ruling because it says it is the basis of our sovereign right to tax as we see fit. I am also very much in favour of our acknowledging our sovereignty and working to it but where was our concern for our sovereignty when we took rulings from Europe and outside Europe on the austerity budgets, which were imposed and which caused so much suffering here? In the developing world and countries of the global south we know that tax avoidance, tax evasion and favourable arrangements for multinationals are the biggest single cause of inequalities in those countries. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, stated that up to $240 billion is lost annually by governments around the world because of aggressive tax planning by multinationals. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, tells us that 1.2 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day and a further 2.7 billion on less than $2.50 a day. One way to eliminate global poverty is to use resources such as tax. Illicit tax flows have gone from $9.7 billion over 25 years ago to almost $1 trillion.

We play the leadership role, and are respected for that, in respect of the sustainable development goals. Goal 16.4 is to “significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows”. We are respected for our development aid because it is not tied but we should equally be respected because we are committed to tax justice. We cannot be selective when it comes to fairness and justice. We are very taken with this god of foreign direct investment and it is very valuable in creating employment in this country. I acknowledge the employment it has given and have listened to other Deputies outlining the extent of foreign direct investment in their constituencies but there are also examples of companies which come and go. Sometimes the reliance on foreign direct investment is at the expense of our small and medium enterprises. Country by country reporting is vital for tax transparency in order that all multinationals report sales, profits and taxes paid in all jurisdictions in their audited annual reports and tax returns. Many of our non-governmental organisations, NGOs, wanted Ireland to support an intergovernmental body on tax under the United Nations. We went for the OECD best package, country by country reporting, which was very positive but we did not go for it to be made public.

Our rate is ostensibly 12.5% but we do not know how much each company pays. Why not? Social Justice Ireland tells us that if we had an effective tax rate of 6.5%, millions more euro would be realised so we can only come to the conclusion that the effective tax rate is much less. Ending the secrecy around tax payments and the economic activities of multinational corporations is crucial. Surely we have a right to know what multinationals pay here in tax.

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