Tot’s ride and joy...

EU officials have called on Ireland to confirm it is still committed to a minimum corporate tax rate of 15 per cent.

Dutch MEP Paul Tang and five other MEPs from the European Parliament subcommittee are due in Dublin today for a two-day visit.

They will meet Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, a representative from Revenue, and groups including the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation.

It comes amid fears in EU institutions over Ireland’s ability to regulate tech giants headquartered in Dublin including Facebook, Apple and Google

Mr Tang, an economist, said previously that his aim — as chairman of the European Parliament’s FISC committee was to spark debates in EU capitals about fairer tax systems.

“The decision-making [on tax matters] is still very much behind closed doors. And what we try to do with the FISC committee is to break this open, to make the debate public,” he told Forbes in a March 2021 interview.

Ahead of the Dublin visit, Mr Tang said

Although Hungary indicated in June that it was no longer backing the proposal, Mr Tang said that there was “a clear initiative” for EU member states to bypass Hungary’s veto.

“I would be happy to hear that Ireland is still part of the initiative, that would be good for the OECD agreement to implement the minimum corporate tax rate. “I know it’s a sensitive topic in Ireland,” he added.

In recent months, Mr Donohoe has repeatedly warned of the risk to the Irish economy in over-reliance on tech giants’ corporate tax revenues — even for one-off measures to help people with the cost-of-living crisis.

WARNING: Minister Paschal Donohoe Topic

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