Tax subcommittee MEPs give feedback on visit to Dublin

Members of the Subcommittee on Tax Matters (FISC) have spent a day in the Irish capital discussing tax policies, the fight against tax avoidance, and tax simplification.

FISC Subcommittee Chair Pasquale Tridico (The Left, IT), who led the delegation, said:

“We had a fruitful exchange of views with our Irish counterparts, and I have two main comments to make.

First, on the implementation of the minimum corporate tax rate of 15% agreed at global level. I understand the risks for the EU competitiveness of having two different tax systems in the EU and the US. However, I believe that Ireland should consider introducing a 15% tax rate for all companies, not only big multinationals. This would simplify the Irish tax system. It would also help Ireland to diversify its revenue sources and not rely only on tax revenue from a small number of big companies. Another way to diversify revenue would be to introduce an EU digital service tax, should the US not agree to go forward with the OECD agreement.

Second, Ireland has still higher outbound royalty payments than the rest of the EU combined. This is a concern. I welcome the implementation of the new law in 2024 that ensures that outbound payments to associated entities in certain jurisdictions are subject to withholding tax. There are however still loopholes (in particular for countries with almost no taxation) and I would invite Ireland to close them”.

The FISC Subcommittee delegation spent Tuesday 22 July in Dublin, meeting with Members of the Finance Committee and the Committee for Budgetary Oversight of the Oireachtas, and with representatives of businesses, including Google, the Meta group and the Apple group, and of tax authorities, non-governmental organisations and academia.

Delegation composition

The delegation will be composed of the following MEPs:

Pasquale Tridico (The Left, IT) - Chair

Regina Doherty (EPP, IE)

Pierre Pimpie (PfE, FR)

Billy Kelleher (Renew, IE)

Background

This was the second Tax Matters Subcommittee delegation to travel to Dublin. The first visit was in 2022.

About the subcommittee

The FISC Subcommittee was set up in 2020. It assists the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on tax-related matters generally and more specifically on the fight against tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance, and on financial transparency for taxation purposes. It consults experts, exchanges views with ministers and national parliamentarians, organises fact-finding visits and drafts recommendations.