Economics

Aidan Regan: Ireland needs to stop relying on phantom corporate taxes

Last week’s Ifac report was optimistic about Ireland’s fiscal future, but rightly pointed out the danger of relying too much on the volatile global accounting strategies of multinationals

Big pharma: the profitability, expansion and growth of leading multinationals based in Ireland creates the tax base of Ireland’s economy. Picture: Getty

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac) released its latest report last week. The core takeaway is that the Irish macro fiscal position is actually pretty good, notwithstanding all the uncertainties surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brexit, and rising inflation. This positive outlook, however, is heavily dependent on corporate tax.

The report shows that despite the extraordinary economic shock of Covid-19, and the upward pressure that this put on government spending, modified Gross National Income ...