Dáil debates

Tuesday, 10 October 2017

Financial Resolution No. 3: Intangible Assets

 

10:45 pm

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One thing we should all remember is the danger of assuming a very simple way of getting extraordinary amounts of revenue from an unexpected source. Our 12.5% profits tax is well known and well recognised globally. It has worked extremely well for us in this country, it continues to work and I hope it will work for us well in the future. However, another issue is arising now, namely, whether we should collect taxes on profits earned in other jurisdictions, and the answer to that is a firm "no". Obviously, taxes should be collected in the country in which the profits were made, not in a second or third country. If we are suggesting for a moment that we change that and become tax collectors for a myriad of companies all over the globe, we are going down the wrong road and will find that out very quickly. More importantly, if we proceed as is being suggested, that we become tax collectors in respect of moneys earned in other jurisdictions, the attractiveness of this country as a location for foreign direct investment will disappear overnight. There are two sectors: the indigenous sector and foreign direct investors. There are vested interests. I have heard them and I have listened to them. Some of them are in Europe and some of them are elsewhere. They have an interest in reducing the attractiveness of this country as a location for foreign direct investment. Why we seem to be singled out in this way I do not know because we are not that big, but we have been identified. We have been assured by the Revenue Commissioners here that we have adhered to the spirit and the letter of all international tax laws in the past and we will continue to do. The point is simply that we need to be careful in that if we decide to collect taxes on profits earned in other jurisdictions, we will pay a very high price.

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