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THE GOVERNMENT IS to hold two referenda on 4 October with voters asked to decide on the future of the Seanad and the establishment of a new Court of Appeal.
The Environment Minister Phil Hogan has signed a polling order for the two referenda to amend the Constitution with voting taking place on Friday, 4 October between 7am and 10pm.
The 32nd Amendment of the Constitution concerns the abolition of the Seanad with voters being asked if they want to retain or abolish the upper house.
Meanwhile, the 33rd Amendment of the Constitution concerns the establishment of a new Court of Appeal in order to reduce the workload of the current Supreme Court which has a four-year backlog.
Every Irish citizen who is 18 and over and is included in the register of electors is entitled to vote in the two referenda with the total current electorate standing at around 3.1 millio people.
Persons who are eligible to vote but are not on the register have until 17 September to apply to be placed on it. More details can be found on checktheregister.ie
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Say goodbye to the Golden Goose.
The problem here is that you can’t control what the other gov’t going to do. Our corporation tax thing is based on shakey ground as a result. And I’m not exactly sure of the figures but it’s a good few jobs relying on our tax advantage. The EU is constantly sniping on about it. What’s needed is good honest indigenous employment, we can’t afford to have it skewed the way it is, could end up in trouble again
It would help a lot – most of all the Irish people – if the government taxed companies at 12.5% and not 2.5%.
Apple paid about $715 million in corporation tax on foreign profits of $37 billion in fiscal 2012.
That is a meagre 1.9% in tax – more than 10% below the effective rate which Irish governments claim.
What multi-nationals do not pay in tax, we do. The joke is on us.
Can someone clarify for me? Closing the loophole here in Ireland does not mean us changing our corporate tax rate does it? Or does it? im still confused .
Our corporate tax rate stays the same.
Closing the loophole on our side means that they can’t move their money again to avoid taxes.
Hi Catherine, Ireland’s corporate tax rate isn’t affected – the US is trying to close loopholes which allow companies with most of their operations there to shift money overseas without paying tax. But if it works, it would mean US companies are less likely to try an “inversion” to a country with a low corporate tax rate like Ireland.
Thank you both for that. Much appreciated
Thank you Peter. The article was pretty clear and an easy to be honest . It was just me needing to double check . :)
The word inversion is makey uppy. These companies are exercising their right to move off shore. No administration is going to outlaw that no matter how much spin they put on it. The most the US can do is add yet another tax on top of their higher corporate tax rate and that is doubtful too. Nobody is breaking the law and no one is likely to change the law much either. Nothing to see here, move on!
@pat. So I don’t understand why they were fined for moving the tax base to Covidien if the US Govt can’t do anything about it? Can you explain plse?
While i disagree with companies abusing tax systems here in Ireland and abroad attention should also be drawn to the inefficiencies in the IRS tax system in the USA and the Americans should stop pointing jealous fingers at other countries and reform their own tax system for companies which is at present punitive
Problem here is US rate of Corporation Tax is way too high. Tell BO to cut his rates and the problem will sort itself out
The bottom line is the companies will push down wages and benefits for the workers. The profits will have to be attractive to the shareholders.
So buy some shares.
The only issue with the Irish Corporation Tax is that a company registered in Ireland for Corporation Taxation had no domical residence for tax purposes, thus leading the to Double Irish tax structure, where one Irish company is tax resident in Ireland and the other Irish company is tax resident in Bermuda and they can transfer money between each other as US Transfer Pricing Rule are not included in Irish Tax Law.
I am nearly sure that Michael Noonan in last years budget speech addressed this by stating that ALL Companies registered in Ireland would have an Irish Domicile for tax purposes.
In addition, if the US are so concerned about this they should use a carrot instead of a stick approach to corporation tax and reduce nominal rate from 35% to 25%.
have your say