[lbo-talk] any irish lbo-talkers out there?

[Wendy Lyon]

On 18 November 2010 19:55, SA <s11131978 at gmail.com> wrote:
>  More questions for the Irish, if they're game.....
>
> Today the FT has an article about Franco-German pressure for an Irish
> corporate tax hike in exchange for a bailout. It quotes an Irish politician
> saying corporate tax is "non-negotiable," which made me laugh a bit -- it
> sounds sort of like the legless, armless knight spoiling for a fight in the
> Monty Python movie. What I want to know is, what's the popular feeling about
> the corporate tax? Some things I've read have claimed that low corporate
> taxes are seen as some beloved national treasure by the Irish masses. Is
> that true? Is it universally believed that a forced tax hike would kill the
> country's economic prospects? Will the Germans have to pry the 12.5% rate
> out of your cold, dead hands, to paraphrase Charlton Heston?

In a word, yes.

It's pretty much an article of faith that the low corporation tax rate
was a major factor in the boom (the role it's played in the bust
curiously doesn't get as much attention) and even in those years there
was never really any notion of raising it. The government's economic
think tank did suggest that an increase to 17.5% would be manageable
without threatening the state's competitiveness, but nobody really
listened. They're definitely not going to be suggesting it now.

I've actually heard a few people say that this is really what the
crisis with the EU is all about - that France and Germany aren't
really worried about contagion, they're just fed up with Ireland
insisting on its low corporation tax. I don't buy it, but the fact
that it's doing the rounds at all sort of demonstrates how closely the
tax is guarded here.