Is our corporate tax system fair?

Back in the mid-1990s, I was a member of a small cabinet sub-group under the chairmanship of then finance minister Ruairí Quinn that settled on a recommendation that the corporation tax rate should be 12.5 per cent. I had been probing whether 15 per cent might not be a more appropriate rate. Sir Humphrey thought that 15 per cent would be “a very courageous decision, Minister”.

Towards the end of our examination of ...