€600 million tax repayments show need for Standing Commission

Labour Finance spokesperson Joan Burton TD has said that the revelations this week from the Paradise Papers, and the news today that €600 million in corporation tax has been repaid to multinationals shows the need for a Standing Commission on Taxation and a full Dáil debate.

Deputy Burton said:
“Ireland’s corporation tax take has become increasingly volatile and subject to global scrutiny.

“The discovery from questions I asked that nearly €600 million has been repaid in recent years under correlative adjustments with a further €242 million outstanding adds to the general concerns around our tax regime and the need for a Standing Commission on Taxation to continuously examine issues of concern.

“It shows the need also for a full Dáil debate on the issues that have now arisen since the publication of the Panama Papers a year ago, and the Paradise Papers this week. The scale and variety of tax avoidance schemes that exist to hide and protect wealth from taxes that ordinary Irish people have to pay.

“If we are seeing a rise in the number of correlative adjustments as other countries change their rules to claim more profits from multinationals then it is time the Minister for Finance produced a detailed report on the reputational implications for Ireland in particular from these papers; and if he will set up, as I have suggested for some time, a Standing Commission on Taxation.

“Such a Commission would review loopholes as they arise in the tax structure, to ensure all companies and residents make an appropriate contribution.”