Ireland urged to fight EU tax plan

IRELAND should fight a Franco-German EU tax harmonisation plan tooth-and-nail to save jobs and preserve our fiscal sovereignty, top economists warned last night.

The French and German governments have prepared a paper for the convention on the future of Europe which proposes to harmonise corporation tax and value added tax to improve the single market. This move is expected to be opposed by Ireland and Britain. Goodbody Stockbrokers chief economist Colin Hunt said such a development would be massively detrimental to Ireland's economic stability and should be resolutely resisted.

"Fiscal sovereignty remains a national issue and cannot be transferred to Brussels without the approval of parliament and people by referendum. Is anybody willing to offer odds on the Irish electorate voting to hand power over our taxes to the Commission," he asked.