Agriculture Brian Keegan: Concerns of farmers serve as a magnifying glass on politicsThe resolution of the agriculture emissions problem requires it to be seen for what it is: a problem of oversupply of a by-product
Budget 2023 Brian Keegan: We’ve passed our economics exams, but the budget is something elseGlowing reports from the IMF won’t mean much to those struggling with rent, fuel and food costs
Tax Brian Keegan: Why is Ifac calling for a rainy day fund as the skies begin to clear?Many other developed countries would give their right arm to be in the solid economic position we are in. Yet we seem afraid to spend that largesse on causes that desperately need it
Brian Keegan: Would age-specific taxation help to halt Ireland’s brain drain? As a country, we consistently ask the wrong questions about our industrial and investment policy
Brian Keegan: How do you fund services without raising taxes? You can raise wagesA wage increase would generate hundreds of millions of euro in tax yield without much political or social pushback
Brian Keegan: Ukraine invasion has made a fast, decisive union out of slow, bureaucratic EURegardless of the outcome of Russia’s illegal war, there has been a profound, and perhaps permanent, change of mindset in the European approach
Brian Keegan: the government should continue the Covid-19 habit of trusting experts when it comes to the retirement age debateThere is no evidence to support the status quo, so why are politicians still waiting to make a decision?
Brian Keegan: France has big plans for its EU presidencyEmmanuel Macron aims to have the 15 per cent corporate tax proposals in force by this time next year, and that’s not the half of it
‘Solidarity levy’ could be one of many new costs of a united Ireland We need more information on the opportunities and challenges that a 32-county regime would bring for businesses as well as individuals
Brian Keegan: Sinn Féin and the Democrats both need a change in tax policyExcessively taxing one particular cohort in society may be politically expedient, but it’s not a realistic long-term strategy
Brian Keegan: Budget set to restore the ‘Reynolds equilibrium’ Our circumstances today share numerous parallels with 1991, when Albert Reynolds delivered the first ever televised budget speech
Brian Keegan on tax: While the grass may be greener, the tax benefits of offshore working are not black and whiteGiven Ireland’s pandemic-related national debt, significant income tax cuts in the near future seem unlikely, but moving abroad to work remotely will not always result in savings either
Brian Keegan: Sustainability will tax minds long after other issues are forgottenCorporation tax might be dominating the headlines now, but environmental matters are of more long-term importance to international finance
Brian Keegan: Vat’s it all about? Not much, next to the LPTThe lack of reaction to the Vat hike on online purchases shows us yet again that when it comes to taxes, we respond primarily by reference to what we last experienced
Brian Keegan: How to put the lights back onThere are important tax implications for employers as they prepare for the winding-down of the pandemic supports
Brian Keegan: What’s in a name? Not very much when it doesn’t mean fresh thinking on taxThe Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base is getting a new title— Befit. But a lack of real change suggests a naïveté and mission creep on the part of the European Commission
Brian Keegan: Taxing investment funds won’t solve the housing crisisThe wholesale purchase of estates is a serious problem, but there are many reasons for the high cost of homes, and the most important is lack of supply
Ireland should hold steady in the corporation tax debateWe can’t afford to be fatalistic as the OECD negotiations unfold. There are plenty of reasons to hope we won’t end up €2 billion out of pocket
Brian Keegan: NI protocol is working, it‘s the processes that need smoothingFlawed as it is, the protocol plays a big role in volumes of trade on the island of Ireland which are very much in the North’s favour
Brian Keegan: A solidarity tax would be a step backwardsA move to tax those who’ve done well financially during the pandemic has been mooted, but there are good reasons not to touch it