Ireland was “robbing” its European neighbours by allowing Apple pay such a low effective tax rate, Nobel laureate and economist Joseph Stiglitz has said while, alongside other leading economists, calling on governments to set a minimum corporate tax rate of 25 per cent. In response to a question from The Irish Times as to whether Ireland has received an advantage from its low corporate tax rate, Mr Stiglitz said: “I think Ireland did get some advantage by having a lower tax rate of 12.5 per cent. I didn’t think they had much of an advantage for zero or close to zero [tax rate] that they gave to Apple. “Corporate tax and a minimal tax rate of corporation tax of 25 per cent is useful if it is integrated into a global corporation tax system. “Among these inequities and distortions, the largest were associated with the internet companies, Apple and Google, ” he said, giving the example of their low effective tax rate being paid in Ireland.

Source: The Irish Times June 15, 2020 15:33 UTC