EU pressure to hike 12.5% corporation tax rate grows

THE days of Ireland being a low tax country are over, according to the EU’s economics commissioner, but the Government insists it will not increase the corporation tax rate.

France has added its voice to demands from Germany that the 12.5% tax charged to companies – the third lowest in the EU – be increased as part of austerity measures to pay off the bank debt.

Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn said after a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels that the tax issue was a matter for the Government.