Sinn Féin: State loses €200m as no tax on banks’ profit

Ireland is losing out on up to €200m every year because the profits of the largest bailed-out banks are not taxed, according to Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty.

He made the claim at the launch of his party’s policy paper on corporation tax in response to revelations this year that major banks will pay no corporation tax for the next 20 years.

“If you were to see the type of revenue that was brought in last year in terms of the profits of the banks [and] occurring in the banks in the next number of years, you would be bringing in over €200m per annum as a result of these measures.

“What we want to see in this year’s finance bill is that the carry forward of losses for the state bailed-out banks should be only 25%, mirroring what it is in Britain, and that the losses would only be allowed to be carried forward for a period of 10 years,” said Mr Doherty.

Earlier this year, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB reported a profit of €2.64bn between them. All three were bailed out following the 2008 financial crises.

Due to a law introduced in 2014 by the Fine Gael-Labour coalition, Government- supported banks can carry 100% of their losses forward, meaning that they do not have to pay tax.

“This is an unbelievable gift to the Irish institutions,” said Mr Doherty.