US report accuses Ireland of being tax haven

Ireland is being accused of being a tax haven for computer maker Apple by a US Senate Committee.
According to the Committee report a corporation tax rate of less than 2 percent was negotiated by the company with the Irish government. That is far below the normal 12.5 percent rate.
The iPhone maker is alleged to have avoided paying 44 million dollars in US tax in the last 4 years by setting up companies in Ireland, which paid little or no tax on sales of the company’s products outside America.
Apple employs 4,000 people at its European headquarters in Cork.
Senior business lecturer at DCU Tony Foley says this committee won’t help Ireland in the argument over our corporation tax rate.
“One of the big problems we face of course is that this adds grist to the mill to try and get people to – as it were – reform our tax code; but we are hugely dependent on multi-nationals” he said.
“About 80 percent of our exports, about 140,000 jobs, we collect in profits tax about 3 billion a year”.
“So the economy’s success in the future – particularly if it’s going to be export oriented – is crucially dependent on the continued attraction of the likes of Apple” he added.