Ireland says no to ‘Robin Hood’ tax

Ireland will not take part in an EU “Robin Hood” tax on financial institutions, despite the fact that the country’s share of the levy will then go elsewhere.

While Ireland levies stamp duty when shares of big companies change hands, the sale and purchase of derivatives, blamed for much of the economic catastrophe, are not taxed.

The EU wanted to introduce the tax throughout the eurozone, estimating it would bring in over €57bn a year, of which Ireland would receive a minimum of €500m.

In a move declared to be “historic”, 11 eurozone countries have said they will introduce the tax under EU rules in a process known as “enhanced co-operation”.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan, while ruling Ireland out of taking part in the tax, said he would not object to the others doing so, saying: “We will wave them on.” He said he does not plan to tax derivatives.

Mr Noonan argued that if Ireland was to adopt the tax, some of the 33,000 jobs in Dublin’s financial services centre would relocate to London, a claim that has been challenged.

The Government was criticised by MEP Nessa Childers, who under Freedom of Information found the Government’s only report on the issue was prepared by the hedge fund lobbying body, AIMA.

She also uncovered correspondence from the IFSC Clearing House Group, which is made up of representatives of the world’s biggest financial institutions located in the IFSC, and which is chaired by Martin Fraser, the secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach. They meet in Government Buildings with Department of Finance officials regularly and are consulted on a range of policy issues including whether they should be taxed or not.

“The financial sector was a major cause of the crisis and has received over €4.6tn in public support from taxpayers in Europe,” said Ms Childers. “The European Commission claims it would be worth over €500m to us in Ireland, yet there is still no public debate on the issue.

“The financial sector provides thousands of good jobs and much-needed tax revenue. However, this tax is the very least the financial sector can do to contribute back to the people who bailed them out. I will continue to work with my Labour party colleagues to make sure we have a real debate on this issue.”

EU’s taxation commissioner Algirdis Semeta said that the financial services sector are under-taxed compared to others in the EU as they do not pay Vat which is estimated to be worth €18bn a year. He believes that, once this is adopted, even by some EU countries, then others will follow.

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