Multinationals pay their fair share of corporate tax, IDA chief claims

Multinationals pay their fair share of corporate tax in Ireland compared with other countries, CEO of the IDA, Barry O’Leary told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee.

Overall, foreign firms based in Ireland pay a corporate tax wedge of €2.7bn, which works out at €19,000 per employee.

Moreover, the corporate tax take is the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP compared with an EU average of 2.4% and 3% in the UK, said Mr O’Leary. He argued that Ireland has a transparent 12.5% corporate tax rate, which was attractive to potential investors because it was applied to all companies uniformly.