Irish tax regime attacked

GERMANY’S finance minister has made a blistering attack on Ireland’s low corporate tax rate and accused the country of using EU money to fund unfair competition.

His outburst at the end of a EU Finance Ministers meeting in Luxembourg, which he chaired, was condemned by the business association IBEC as “disgraceful”.

Minister Peer Steinbruck is pushing an attempt to harmonise corporate tax bases across the EU, which is being strongly resisted by a number of countries, including Ireland.