Good point Stephen.
I suspect more opportunities will present themselves, but our political elite will let them pass by as well.

In 2001, Russia abandoned progressive taxation in favour of a flat rate tax of 13%. The initative was considered such a success 12 nations have replicated.

“The Russian Federation is a considered a prime case of the success of a flat tax; the real revenues from its Personal Income Tax rose by 25.2% in the first year after the Federation introduced a flat tax, followed by a 24.6% increase in the second year, and a 15.2% increase in the third year.
The Laffer curve predicts such an outcome, attributing the primary reason for the greater revenue to higher levels of economic growth stemming from the introduction of the flat tax.”
Wikipedia

This might be a naive question but is there any eveidence to suggest that in order to create jobs we need to have super-rich people a few doors down the road? Most of Ireland’s economy is based on small and medium businesses, and the rest on multi-nationals; Google, Facebook, Ebay etc didn’t get here because their CEO has a holiday home in Courtown, they ware calculated business decisions.

And Sean regarding Russia and the rest of Eastern Europe benefitting from a flat tax, how certain is it that that increase in prosperity was due to their tax regime and not down to other factors? Without explaining why the flat tax increased revenue, there’s no way of telling that there is a causation, or whether or not that causation would apply in a completely different country like Ireland.

Wrong Stephen. We cannot be selfish and take jobs at the expense of other countries. That is selfish thinking that even your FF buddies admit was wrong. It backfired when they left Ireland.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, how many Irish jobs do you create with your money in offshore accounts like Romney? Let me guess 0000.

@ Brendan. There are volumes of material written on flat taxes and Russia’s taxation reforms of 2001. Laffers curve offers a reasonably easy to understand guide as to why excessive tax rates result in diminished exchequer revenues and visa versa.http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/laffercurve.asp
@Rob. You have the wrong end of the stick there. No one is taking jobs from France. Their government is giving them away, along with potential tax revenues. No one could accuse them of lacking a spirit fraternity in the midst of this crisis. I’m sure the British and Swiss appreciate this selfless act.

The notorious McGreevey era and the effects of his “trickle breaks” tax policy proved that permitting the wealthy (excluding the middle class) to keep more of their money didn’t help the overall economy. Cutting the tax rate for the wealthy did not lead to economy growth or the creation of jobs. The wealthy just pocketed the extra cash.

The best way to raise all boats is, if you will, to (wisely) redistribute the wealth a bit. (Socialist idea? No; the idea has been around for a long time. Jesus, like Marx, liked the idea.)

@Sean I’m sure there are, but what are the reasons as to why Russia’s flat tax reforms increased tax take? Unless you can outline reasons why then it’s pointless to claim that there’s a connection, and Laffer’s curve, although a logical argument, fails to explain anything with regard to the issue. It explains that flat taxing makes the rich more productive, but it makes the poor less productive, or unwilling to stay in the country, and I don’t see how either of those two facts have any resemblance to actually increasing tax revenue.

This is why economists make terrible scientists, you could find volumes of material praising flat tax, I could find volumes condemning it, and we’d be no closer to agreement because the volumes aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

Sorry, Brendan I should have explained, the economic benefits of opting for flat taxes were so marked that 12 other European nations abandoned progressive taxation in favour of flat taxes.

Stephen Fitzpatrick wrote: We missed a huge opportunity to catch a lot of business and money.

We musn’t become a tax haven. We should be encouraging corporations and businesses to pay their fair share – not dodge taxes. Tbh, we will soon have to raise corporation tax. We are being bailed out by Europe yet we cheat them. Typical selfish Irish – time we grew up.

Haha!

I voted for someone disguised as labour TD, but I won’t be fooled again.

It has nothing to do with socialism.

Luke,

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher.

yep, france just made a very very stupid descision, the rich and businesses are the people creating jobs, not the ones you want to piss off.

Stephen,

France made the right decision to tax the rich. They can easily enact new tax haven agreements between Switzerland and Singapore. Then there is no hiding place for the filthy rich.

Warren Buffett: Tax the Rich

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html?_r=1&src=recg

So when the government lowers capital gains tax to rates well below the income tax rate, where the vast majority of those who benefit are the wealthy, what is the government doing? Is that not redistributing wealth to the wealthy? Sadly the tax rates have been going down for the upper income brackets for the last 30 years. The share of wealth owned by the top 10% has never been higher in the last 30 years. Where has this gotten us? €200 billion in debt? Billion euro budget deficits. I think raising tax rates for the upper income brackets is really an effort to try to get some equilibrium back into the system. we have tried the trickle down model for the last 30 years. Let’s try trickle up for the next 30 and see where that gets us.

Have you been brainwashed by FG propaganda? That doesn’t happen because there are very few tax havens left.

Because FG are a pig capitalist party like Mitt Romney who offer the top 10% tax breaks.

I agree with the wealth tax but it alone won’t solve our problems unless we increase corporation tax. We have a bloated public sector who are paid considerably more than the Eurozone average. Our minimum wage is the third highest in the Euro area. We have an uncompetitive labor market that needs to be reformed. Then we can increase corporation tax.

The super-rich can run but they can’t hide.

Correct. It would be the straw that breaks the camels back. Look at the tech giants here in Dublin; Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook. The majority of their staff are not Irish people, they attract people with the language skills they need here to Ireland. They could just as easily do the same somewhere else that is more favourable. The reality is that educated people are not immovable objects and will go where ever money flows to. If Google and co. moved to Germany tomorrow, any Irish person wanting to work for them would brush up on their Leaving Cert Deutch and be on next plain over there.

D, why don’t you just move over to an extreme right wing site where your comments will be more in line.

They’re running out of places to hide. All the countries you mention have mostly bilateral agreements. Ireland on the other hand allows Bono to cheat the Irish taxpayer of billions by using the well-known “Double Irish arrangement”

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement

Corporation tax needs to be raised. There will be NO exodus if we lower our minimum wage and become more competitive like in the 1990’s. We cannot hide our competitiveness behind the smokescreen of a low corporation tax. It is ethically wrong and takes jobs at the expense of other countries.

Wrong again. Do you allow yourself to be duped by FG very often?