Budget 'shows foresight', says American Chamber

The American Chamber of Commerce has said the decisions on the Special Assignment Relief Programme (SARP) announced by Minister Noonan in Budget 2012 "show foresight" and will create jobs.

The body, which represents 600 US companies employing 100,000 people directly in Ireland, said the proposed changes to the SARP regime will be a major boost to Ireland’s ability to compete and win investment.

Anna Scally, Chair of the American Chamber Tax Group, said: "In these difficult economic times it is encouraging that the Department of Finance is showing foresight and introducing initiatives which will aid future job creation."

The Chamber also welcomed the Ministers definitive comments on Ireland’s corporation tax regime.

Ms Scally said: "We need to make Ireland attractive for foreign nationals to relocate here so that the talents and skills we need to expand investment mandates are available to us.

"These individuals are often key decision makers and key influencers in deciding where new investments are located.

"In addition individuals that relocate here for periods of time have a greater affinity to Ireland as they move up the corporate ladder, which plays well for us when investment decisions are being taken at board level."

She said Minister Noonan had given certainty on the continuation of Ireland’s 12.5% Corporate tax regime

Scally said: "The fiscal success of Ireland’s corporate tax policy is clear. Ireland has been hugely successful in recent years in attracting high end Foreign Direct Investment, and, in the processs creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. In the current climate this has been more important than ever.

"There is intense competition globally for these investments and we have to continually review and assess our offering to ensure Ireland remains ahead of the competition as an investment location.

A note of caution was sounded by the Chamber into the announced increase in Carbon Tax from by over 30% per tonne.

They said: "Energy costs in Ireland are already significantly out of line with many of our EU counterparts, and therefore any measure which further increases energy prices would have a negative impact on our competitiveness."