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TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has accused US President Donald Trump of “fake news” over his claim that Ireland is set to reduce its corporation tax rate.
In a speech in the White House’s Rose Garden earlier this week, Trump name-checked Ireland, stating:
“You look at other countries and what they’ve done, and we’re competing with other countries,” he said. “When China is at 15% and I hear that Ireland is going to be reducing their corporate rates down to 8% from 12%.”
The Department of Finance has strongly denied Trump’s claim.
Asked about Trump’s speech by Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett in the Dáil today, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed that Ireland would not be reducing its corporation tax rate.
“It is indeed fake news,” he said with a grin on his face.
Varadkar said “there is no such plan” to reduce the rate, adding that it stands at 12.5% and it will remain so for “a very long time”.
Boyd Barrett said the statement by the US president is further prove that he is a “pathological liar” and “dangerous”.
Trump is campaigning for a drop in America’s down tax rate of 35% to 20% and has been arguing that the US must do so in order to remain commercially competitive.
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Thanks Leo, Trump and the truth is a paradox.
@Anthony John Cotter: more like strangers.
@Anthony John Cotter: Trump “heard” Fake news and should not have believed it.
@Tom Newnewman: Trump heard nothing and just made it up
@Tom Tom: There are so many voices knocking about in his head, he get’s them all confused.
@Anthony John Cotter: top 100 companies paid less than 1%. 8% would be a windfall don’t mention 12.5% none of them pay that.
@Stephen Brady: “top 100 companies paid less than 1%”.
Completely false.
An outright lie.
Here is the truth -
79% of the Top 100 paid over 12%.
66% of the Top 100 paid over 10%.
Just 13% paid less that 1% – which is exactly what you’d expect when they didn’t make a profit.
@Brinster: The People Against Profit(out of which workers wages are paid) mentality is what has the Third world, the Third World.
@Tom Newnewman: Trump can even sit straight, his an imbecile
Lol the dude who set up a ministry of spin to try and deceive the electorate is in no position to lecture on “fake news”!
@Aldric Montague: Ah come on now. You’ve already cited “infowars” as an example of a credible news source today. Glasshouses, old sport?
@Honeybadger197: not what I said, I simply stated that Infowars is one of the few outlets still focused and determined to find answers to the Vegas shooting.
@Aldric Montague: Deluded! Lol!
@Aldric Montague: No it’s not, Infowars does not care, Alex Jones does not care. They are more than happy with what happened because like every major news story / attack they will use it to create a tin-foil hat level conspiracy. I can hear the quacks from here.
Corporation tax is 12 POINT 5 % not 12 that’s his first mistake.
@dangermouse: Trumps incorrect may have been passed his way to help Ireland’s FDI but he should have checked it out as trying to trip him up is now a preoccupation of Big Brother Media.
@Tom Newnewman: no one is trying to trip him up, he doesn’t need any help in that regard
@Tom Newnewman: funny that the lie pushes his agenda rather than the media’s
@Dave O Keeffe: and in thirty years time some state papers will probably reveal that corporation tax of 8% was mooted as a response to brexit.
“Not another red cent” – Leo Varadkar.
@Arnold Lane: Good point. And dont underestimate the effect of what FG are doing. They are clearly trying to create FG as a brand via a focus on Varadker as a ‘personaility’. This will be a (they hope) permanent distraction from the actuality of their neoliberal policies which remain a threat to a lot of us (the not well off who cant afford to see the publich sphere shrink as we dont have the money to afford private healthcare, education and so on). Varadker and FG are a genuine threat to the country. Dont lose sight of that amid the welter of Varadker news/tweets.
Must be really pissing them off that they have to contend with the likes of Regina Doherty continually f***ing it up for them as she is actually real FG without the spin and shows what they are really all about
@Arnold Lane:
A bit of a false equivalency – breaking promises, or rather failing to deliver on promises, is different to blatantly lying about factual matters.
Trump does both of course but it’s the frequency and scale of the latter that boggles the mind.
@andrew: You hit the nail on the
Well said
Most of the big companies pay less than two percent in tax, I wouldn’t mind if they paid eight percent
@high ho silver: “Most of the big companies pay less than two percent in tax”
This is utterly false.
Completely untrue.
Over two thirds of large Irish companies pay basically the full rate of Corporate Tax – over 12%.
Here is the Irish Times confirming that 79% of the Top 100 companies in the country pay over 10%.
@Brinster: #factslap
@high ho silver: any evidence to back that up?
@Honeybadger197: Ha – hadn’t heard that one before!
@Brinster: How come apple paid €50 every million that’s less than 1% .The company I work for paid 2 million in taxes and got 3.5 million in grands basically they paid nothing
@Brinster: it also says that some 13 of Ireland’s top 100 companies pay an effective rate of tax of just 1 per cent.
@Sean: Yes. Companies pay tax on profits. Not turnover. So if there was little or no profit then the effective rate could easily be 1%.
Alternatively R&D credits used in the correct and legal manner could reduce tax liabilities – that’s why we introduced them – to increase R&D investment by companies. They build research facilities, create jobs and stay longer.
Really bothers me when people like the original commenter outright lie.
@Brinster: I don’t lie take your head out of the sand ,the amount of tax loopholes out there that are been abused out right,basically the employee pays the tax and the employer gets the tax breaks
@high ho silver: Again – anything to back that up?
Or is it just something you heard?
I’ve linked to my evidence. 79% of the Top 100 companies had an effective rate of over 10%.
It’s nice to see Leo and Richard Boyd-Barrett agreeing on something for once
Trump is the biggest purveyor of fake news.
Maybe it was just what Apple execs told him over dinner when he asked them to relocate home and they needed an excuse to get out without paying the tab.
Leo Jung Un
8%.. pfft.. None of them pay over 3% here.
@Rob Cahill:
Sorry Rob, that’s simply not true.
@Rob Cahill: nonsense
Fake Taoiseach tells The President he is spreading fake news…let’s roll out the red carpet….where’s tricky mickey?
‘Further prove’ , ‘down tax rate’ , who proof reads these articles before posting them? Appallingly sloppy effort!
Trump uses the term ‘Fake News’ so loosely it’s no great surprise he has been caught out. I’d say politicians are queuing up to use it on him
SLAMMMMEDDDDDDDDDDDD
@”":
really?
The only truth here is that our great little nation is a bigger benefactor of privatised profits for corporations than the most nakedly right wing American president ever elected.
And what does boyd Barrett think about that? Nothing of course, his vapid protests don’t reach beyond dun laoires harbour walls.
More likely that Leo has the bals to confront Trump is fake news
For a Marxist and man of the Far-Left to be calling the President of the United States a “pathological liar” and “dangerous” is deeply ironic, but of course not surprising.
@John Reid: far left??? Give me some of those drugs would you?
Forrest Trump strikes again.
We could do with raising it to 35%. Letting apple etc get away with paying less than 1 is ludicrous… they use our infrastructure and guess what …. their employees need housing / transport etc
@Kieran Shortt: Jesus Kieran…. look at the bigger picture. We’re a small island in the arsehole of nowhere. In comparison to almost ANY other western country we have nothing to offer except our exceptional corporation. Forget that rubbish about a special workforce etc. If we went to 35% tax there would be no multi nationals here at all. Even if they pay feck all they bring a massive amount of investment into this country and that’s what we need. It’s silly that it’s so obvious I actually have to write it down.
I’d say he was dying to use that line for ages.
Good on ya Vard the Impaler
The yanks don’t cover what Leo says or Irish news, they never even gave Ophlelia a mention, so the king of spin Leo is just talking to his Irish listeners.
Of course we are not reducing it to 8%, when it is currently .005%. Simple maths.
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